Awakening
by TheBlackbirdCalls
Summary: This is a commissioned story by Bassaud. A man awakens in the middle of the Emerald Forest with no idea who he is, what he's doing, or why he now sports a pair of cat ears. Now, he has to adjust to a world far different from the one he (sort of) remembers, though maybe attending Beacon Academy will help him through that process. (Reader X Character, Slow Burn Romance)
1. Chapter 1

Light begins to filter from your eyes as you find consciousness again. Almost immediately, you can tell that something is wrong. You… hurt? That's the thing; you know you SHOULD hurt right now, but you don't feel any pain. Your body's senses tell you that you should be injured right now, but you feel… fine. Better than fine, actually. Well, apart from being somewhat cold, you feel… alive is the best way to describe it. That said, you still feel… wrong.

Maybe it was because your eyes are closed, but you don't remember being able to hear each individual leaf rustling on the trees around you. It's almost overwhelming, but somehow natural despite being… wrong. You keep coming back to that word. As you blink your eyes open, growing accustomed to the sun above you, you find it… brighter than normal? Was the sun always so bright? And did the flowers always smell so strongly before? And why did it feel like you could hear everything around you better than you could before?

Sitting up, your eyes adjust to the light and key you in on the fact that you're in… a forest? Looking around a bit more, you see that you're BELOW a forest, seeing as there's a clear divide from trodden soil and displaced dirt. You're in the epicenter of a crater.

You're in the epicenter of a CRATER!?

With a shock, you bolt upright and inspect your surroundings a bit more. You confirm that, yep, you're in the center of a crater, and a recent one judging from the shifting rocks that fall as you move. More evidence that suggests that you SHOULD feel pain, but instead you feel an unfamiliar wave of warmth pass through your body. Another thing you notice is that you're not wearing anything; you sit naked in a crater in the middle of a forest with no idea who you are and no idea how you got here.

You stand. Well, you attempt to stand. In the ever-increasing number of things wrong with your current situation, you manage to throw your arm farther than intended, and somehow send debris flying everywhere. Wait… You (try to) slam the ground, and upon success, find that A. moving your body felt almost alien, and B. you are capable of smashing stone with an accidental swipe. That explains one mystery, at least; this body was definitely foreign to you. You don't remember much, but you do remember that you weren't that strong. You also don't remember having such good senses. Your hearing, sight, and smell were far better than they were before. You think. Maybe?

After some more adjusting, you find the rhythm to your body and get to your feet. Above anything, even figuring out what exactly is going on, you'd really like some pants. Standing in a crater was one thing, but standing in a crater with super senses and your dick out was another.

Your ears flicker towards the direction of voices. Wait… your ears flicker? Raising a hand to brush through your hair, you find… are those extra ears? With a bit of pulling, you discover that part of the explanation for your foreign senses were that you have a pair of extra ears on your head, and they were some sort of animal ears. That's another mystery solved… and a million more to take its place. You definitely don't remember having animal ears. You definitely remember that people don't HAVE animal ears. Humans didn't have extra ears, and they definitely didn't have animal ears. At least, that's what you remember… if, "remember," was the right word... A cursory check of the rest of your body confirms that you only have the ears, and no tail or anything. That's… good? Hard to tell.

Back to what was going on. Your new ears alerted you to the fact that you have company. Seeing as you've had your ears for all of two minutes, you can't properly parse through the noise to tell how many people were coming, just that it was more than one. Remembering that you are still undressed, you look around for something to cover yourself with.

You find a bush. Great.

You almost step into the bush before realizing that probably isn't the best idea. Reaffirming your decision, you notice that you almost used a ROSE bush to cover your junk. You know, the one covered in thorns. Instead, you take some leaves, cover some of the dirt and rocks behind the bush, and sit down; it's not the best situation, but at the very least, you can face the people coming without getting on a list.

As the voices come closer, you start to make out the fact that there were two distinct voices. You take the opportunity to try and adjust to your new hearing, closing your eyes to focus on splitting the noise channels. One was a woman, stuffy and proper, and the other was a man, older and far friendlier sounding, that you can tell. They quickly close in on your location, chatting about something that you manage to hear through the other noises.

"Do you honestly believe that investigating a large explosion in a Grimm-infested area is the best way of going about things!?" the angry female voice angrily says, angrily. "We should have left this to the authorities!"

"Now, now Glynda, if I didn't trust you to be able to protect a frail old man, I wouldn't have signed you on as a teacher. I do wonder what could have caused this sort of explosion, though…"

"It could be nothing good, Ozpin! Well-meaning things don't explode!"

Seeing as you don't really know what to do, you just sit behind your bush and wait for the two people to show up. Seeing as they were worried whatever happened could be a bad thing, they can't be that bad, right? A bad guy would be excited about explosions. That makes the most sense of anything going on.

You see an older man with glasses and a cane casually stroll to the edge of the crater, followed shortly by a stern looking woman with a sharp glare and a professional atmosphere. It takes them a moment to notice you sitting there. There are a good thirty seconds of silence as they look over in your direction, half as confused as you are.

"Sup?" you say, waving. That's the most passive thing you could do in this sort of situation.

Stern lady/Glynda raises her arm, brandishing a… riding crop? She points it at you with the sort of intent you would expect to see from a person holding something much more dangerous than a riding crop. A fierce look shines through her glasses as she… braces her riding crop as though it were a gun. You get the impression that it might be as dangerous as a gun.

The old guy/Ozpin holds out his arm, lowering Glynda's weapon. "Now, now, let's at least hear him out. He had a chance to ambush us, and he's also far too young to be a proper Huntsman." He looks at you, scanning your undressed upper half and relaxed posture, judging you to not be a threat. "You wouldn't happen to be the cause of this, would you?"

You visibly shrug to let the two know that your guard isn't up. "Judging from the circumstances, evidence points to yes. I woke up in the center of that crater, which leads me to believe that I'm somehow involved."

"Would you care to elaborate?"

"I'd love to. If I knew anything." You decide to test your luck and reveal, "Truth be told, I have no idea who I am, where I am, why I woke up in a crater, and why I now have an extra pair of ears." You look at Ozpin and ask, "Could you answer any of those?"

Glynda raises her crop once more, stating, "And if I don't believe you? That seems like a poorly put together excuse to trick us."

Ozpin, ignoring his companion, begins walking up to you, stopping at a reasonable distance. "I told you, let's at least hear him out. As for your questions, I'm afraid I can only answer one of them; you are currently in the Emerald Forest near Beacon Academy, in the city of Vale." He gives a small bow. "I am the headmaster of said school, Professor Ozpin, and this is Professor Goodwitch. Does that help? Are any of those places familiar?"

You look around. True to the name, all of the trees around you shone a brilliant emerald green, catching the light in an almost fairytale-like way. "Not really. I've never heard of any of those."

"What *do* you remember? You clearly remember speech."

"I remember that I didn't have animal ears, for one. That's probably the biggest thing… All of my senses feel… stronger than before, and I wasn't able to smash rocks before. Oh, also, I feel like I should be in pain, but I'm not; I woke up in the center of that crater, but I feel fine, just like a sense of warmth going through me."

Ozpin leans on his cane. "Hmm… That is all quite peculiar. What is clear is that you are lost, and it will do no good to stay here."

"Ozpin, don't you even think about–"

"Why don't you come back with us, to Beacon? Maybe a bit of rest will jog your memory."

You look down. "I'm okay with that, but by any chance do you have any sort of… clothes? I… kinda didn't wake up with any. Probably something to do with the crater." Feeling pretty embarrassed, you adjust the rose bush in front of you, making sure you're covered.

Chuckling slightly, Ozpin says, "Why, that IS a bit of a problem…" He looks down at his outfit, which consisted of an emerald jacket, scarf, and pants. "I'm afraid I don't have anything to offer you." As Glynda walks up next to him, he looks at her and explains, "Glynda, I think anything we'd discover about this crater lies with this man. There's no point in staying here, where it's dangerous."

"Very well. I've trusted you this long, but I still think you're too ready to accept a stranger."

"I've had plenty of experience to learn when people are being genuine. I believe our new friend here is telling the truth, or at least, what he knows to be the truth." Ozpin scans Glynda up and down. You both notice the same thing at the same time; Glynda, in addition to wearing the type of clothes you'd expect a stuffy teacher to wear, she had on a cape that looked straight out of a video game, not real life. It had several jagged arrows at the hem, which counteracted the fact that a teacher was casually wearing a cape in the first place. "And he also requires some clothes or at least some form of coverage. Unfortunately, the only option I see is your cape."

"You don't expect me to give it to him, do you?"

"Don't worry. Gleaning off what he just told us, I'm sure we can think of a way for him to repay you." Glynda scowls. "Unless you'd rather escort an underaged…" Ozpin looks at you. You don't even know your age, but you know you aren't more than 20ish. "…Well, not underaged, but a younger man, naked, through this forest and into our school?"

Clearly very unhappy with this development, Glynda huffs and removes her cape and hands it to Ozpin. He, in turn, tosses it to you, and you wrap it around your waist and form a suitable wrap to cover your junk. You'd prefer… pretty much anything else, but naked crater-men can't be choosers. You stand and thank both Ozpin and Glynda.

Now that you were face to face properly, Ozpin extends a hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Mr…"

"…"

You realize you don't have a name. Or at least, you don't remember any name being attributed to you. No pants, no memories, no name, can't you have ANYTHING!?

"Good question. I don't know my name." Glynda's glare increases in intensity.

Skipping only a single beat, Ozpin smiles. "Well, then." His eyes wander around until they find the rosebush you were hiding behind. "Mr... Briar will do for the moment unless you have any objections."

Of all the random names you could have ended up with, Briar doesn't seem all that bad.

You grab Ozpin's hand and give it a hearty shake. "Mr. Briar, at your service!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Ah, good. I'm glad to see you've found something suitable." Ozpin looks you up and down.

You look down and step around in a well-worn uniform to what you now know belongs to Beacon Academy. After waking up naked in a crater and being brought back for questioning, Ozpin let you swap out Glynda's cape for anything in the lost and found; though the shirt is a bit… well, it's several sizes too big, you now have clothes as opposed to not clothes, which is nice.

"Yep! Though I didn't realize that you teach giants."

Ozpin chuckles. "Glad to see you're adjusting well. Now, why don't you come in?"

"Also, what should I do with this?" you ask, holding up Glynda's cape. You imagine she won't want it back, seeing as you used it to cover your junk. Even now, you're freeballing it under your pants; even if there was a pair of underwear in the lost and found, there was no way you'd have put it on.

Ozpin chuckles. "To be honest, I think that's best left with you. You're free to do with it as you please."

You shrug and step into Ozpin's office, wondering exactly why the office of a school headmaster was a grandiose display of intertwining gears and technology you aren't sure should exist. Sitting down before an equally impressive gear-chair, you await your line of questioning.

"So, you truly don't remember anything about who you are or where you're from?"

Once again, you scan your memories for anything relating to… well, anything. "Nope. I don't remember."

Ozpin looks at your hair, which you recently discovered was blonde when you looked at it in a mirror. You also discovered that you had (specifically) cat ears, though god knows what breed. "And you're surprised at the fact that you're a Faunus?"

You blink. "A what?" You've heard of a faun before…

"Well then…" Ozpin tilts his head. "Your ears. Here, we call people with animal traits Faunus. Do you know them by another term? That might help narrow down where you're from if you have a colloquial name."

You understand that, wherever you are, people with animal ears are just a thing, not a fake concept in video games. "If I'm being honest, from what I remember, people didn't have ears. I… No, I know where I came from, nobody had them. The fact that I do is the strangest thing about being here."

Speaking of your ears, you accidentally overhear Oz mutter, "Before Faunus...?" but you don't know what that means, anyway. "Well, that complicates things even further. It seems you're truly an alien in this world; what else seems off to you?"

You look around. "This place is way too fancy for a school, I'm stronger than I should be, I think whatever injuries I should have are completely gone… Oh, and that lady pointed a stick at me and I felt threatened when I shouldn't have."

Oz sits back in his chair. "One thing is clear, at least. You know nothing."

"That's helpful."

"Luckily, you… crashed in the right place. As you can… well, apparently, this isn't what schools look like to you… Well, this is a school, and I am a headmaster. For someone who doesn't know anything about this world, I suppose landing in a school is the best place. I'll be happy to accept you as a student at Beacon Academy when the new semester starts next week. Assuming you accept, of course."

Oz made a lot of good points. Seeing as everything in this world was foreign, going to school honestly seems like the best thing you could do; you'll learn what's going on around you, plus meet people. You don't know how long your stay here will be, but settling down is good for the moment.

"Alright. I accept."

"Glad to hear! Now, I'm aware of your situation, so I won't ask for any sort of tuition from you. In fact, seeing as you have nothing to your name, I think we should work out what comes next."

"Sounds good."

"Alright, then. For starters, we'll assign you a room. Typically, students are divided into groups of four, but we can give you one immediately and then have your team move in with you. You can attend class and go on missions, but–"

"–Wait, missions?" you interrupt. "What kind of missions?"

Oz looks at you. Very patiently, he describes, "Beacon Academy is a school for Hunters and Huntresses designed to produce people capable of fighting Grimm."

"Fighting what now?"

Luckily, Oz seems the type that has no issues repeating himself, nor explaining things in detail. "Grimm are, in short, the manifestations of darkness and negative thought."

"So, monsters?"

"Monsters. I take it from your surprise that you don't remember having Grimm in your… world, assuming that you're displaced."

"Nope."

"In that case," Oz says, pulling out what looks like a phone. He pulls up an image of a beast that was pure black, save a bonelike mask and fierce red eyes. You jump back, not at all prepared for living in a world where THAT exists. "It bears repeating, but this school trains you to fight those creatures. I wrongly recommend attending for the sake of learning, but I would understand if you don't wish to partake in combat."

You think. True, you were stronger than you think you should be, but… monsters exist? "I… don't know. I… I think it's best that I don't. At least right now." You… don't remember being able to fight, but maybe…

"I understand. We can work out the details later. For now, let's get your living situation squared away. As I said, you will be assigned a room free of charge; we have many to spare, and your situation calls for it. Since you won't immediately be in combat, you won't be assigned to a team. Should you reconsider, you can act as a supplementary member until you find a role."

"That works for me."

"Of note is that you have no possessions. Again, you're free to anything you find in the lost and found, but I think we should work out a deal. I'll give you some money to get some essentials like clothes and such, as well as some food until our cafeteria is functional. In return, I ask that you be my assistant until you're squared away; I won't ask much of you, but maybe two or three times a week, I'll ask you to help with paperwork, filing, small odd jobs that won't take very long. I won't hold a debt against you, but I think that this is a fair trade."

Yep, that's fair. You definitely need clothes and a toothbrush and all that junk. If a man you just met was going to lend you some money with no expectations, you owe it to him. "You can call on me any time, sir!" You nod your head, thankful that, for all your misfortune, Ozpin was the person to find you; you didn't know what you were doing to start, but now you can have some semblance of a life here. "I'm happy to help in any way I can."

"Great. I'll acquire a new scroll for you–" Ozpin sees you tilt your head. He holds up his phone-like device. You nod. "I'll get you one of these so we can communicate. That can come tomorrow, though; I imagine you need some free time to set things up. I can also provide you with a laptop; there should be spare ones we use for faculty, and seeing as you're now my assistant, it seems proper."

"That would be great, sir."

"Good." Oz reaches into his pocket and pulls out a wallet. He procures some blue and yellow cards, plus a black one you can tell is a sort of credit card. Handing them to you, he says, "This will be your salary for the week. Use the blue and yellow ones first, then the black if those run out. This should be enough to get you a few sets of clothes, toiletries, and some food. I'll have some uniforms ordered for you, so don't worry about those. I'll show you to your room once we're finished, and there will be a kitchen area where you can use the refrigerator."

You stare blankly at the money before you. You don't recognize the denomination, but the yellow ones are labeled as 100s and the blues are 20s, so it shouldn't be difficult to price things. Just to be safe, you ask, "How much does a… how much is an average fast food meal?" If your memory was in the right area, it should be about 10… whatevers for a burger, fries, and a soda and that sort of thing.

"I'm not much for fast food, but no more than 10 lien." Oz applauds your deductive reasoning. "One blue card should cover about two meals."

"Okay. I should be able to figure the rest out on my own."

"Good. I'm that case, that covers the extremes. Once you get a scroll, feel free to message me with any questions. For now, though, unless you have any more questions, I'll show you to your room. From there, I can show you to the common room, the kitchen, and a computer room so you can try to catch up on things."

You have a million questions, but asking them wouldn't help much. Everything would still be a blur, plus you can look up things all you want once you have a room. "For now, that sounds good."

"Alright. Follow me," Oz says, getting out of his chair.

You get up and follow Oz to the (still audacious) elevator and back onto the main campus. He leads you past classrooms and halls until you reach a hallway with several rooms lining each side. Procuring a key, Oz opens the door to the first one and hands it to you.

"This will be where you live from this point forward. Unless you somehow remember where you belong, this will always be your home. Feel free to decorate as much as you like."

You nod and accept your new house key. Oz shows you inside and you're immediately the most thankful person on the planet (of which you don't know the name of, you now realize). Before you is a room clearly meant to house four people, as there are four beds, four desks, and four pretty much everything else. Unless you're assigned to a team, they're all yours! The entire room is yours! And there's a bathroom attached!

"Thank you so much, sir! This is more than I could ask for!"

"You're welcome, young man. I can't imagine what a less fortunate you would have had to suffer through; I'm very thankful we found you."

Immediately, you see that you can do a million things with your room. Seeing as you have three extra everything, you can rearrange your room in so many ways! That can come later, though; you have plenty of time to redecorate once you get things in order.

"I'm thankful, as well. I can get settled in later, but would you mind showing me everything else?"

"Of course. Follow me." Oz leads you down the hall until you come into a large room with giant windows looking out toward the setting sun, a few couches, and a tv. "This is the common room. It's mostly just for lounging, though we occasionally have small events and such." He points to a door on the other side of the room, set it a wall made of windows that let you see a table. "That is the kitchen area. There's a standard kitchen setup with everything required for cooking and cleaning, along with a refrigerator. It's shared by everyone in this hall, but you're the only one here at the moment, so it's empty."

You nod. The thought strikes you of what to fill the fridge with; you don't know what kind of food this place has to offer, but you look forward to discovering it. Oz continues on, so you follow your headmaster to a small room off to the side and forget about food for the moment.

"This is the laundry room. I'd recommend washing your new cape while you're here," Oz laughs, causing you to remember you have your crotch cape in hand. Sheepishly you throw it in a washing machine and set it to go. "Usually, students have to fight over those. Consider yourself lucky."

"Duly noted!"

"Now, over here," Oz says, showing you further down the hall. "Is the computer room." He opens the door, revealing a small room with a few computers that look considerably more advanced than what you expected. "We don't usually provide students with computers, so this is for those who didn't bring anything. I'll have Glynda bring you your faculty laptop later, but you should spend some time in here today to do some light research."

"I'll be sure to do that, sir." You look forward to being able to sit back and relax in front of a computer, even if you'd essentially be doing homework.

"Now, I suppose we did this out of order…" Oz says, looking through a window. "It's getting dark. While I imagine you can take care of yourself, a man in your situation probably shouldn't go exploring at night, especially if you don't have any knowledge of where you are."

"I agree with that, yeah. Don't want to wake up in ANOTHER unfamiliar location."

"That would be unfortunate, yes. That does mean you'll have to go a night without brushing or any sleepwear, but that seems to be a minor issue all things considered."

"Yeah, I'm not that bothered by it. I can sleep in these clothes for a night."

"In that case that should be everything for now. Tonight, get settled and do a bit of research. Tomorrow, I'll tell you how to get to the main city, and I'll have your scroll so we can communicate. We can also discuss your assistant job, and we can finish the tour."

"Sounds good to me!"

"Oh, one last thing." Oz looks at your stomach. "It occurs to me that you haven't eaten since before you woke up. I imagine you're hungry."

You suddenly feel your stomach rumble. You realize that you'd been too busy figuring things out to eat. You woke up in the crater at about 3:00, and now it was getting close to 7:00 after all the running around, questions, and tours. You don't even remember the last time you ate anything, so you haven't eaten in four hours, plus however long your coma lasted.

"Yes, I am."

"As I said, there's no food in the cafeteria just yet. Will a pizza do?"

"Yes, sir!" Pizza exists here! Hooray!

"Excellent. I'll order you one and have it delivered to your room. This will be on me, as a welcoming gift."

"Thank you, sir! Really, I can't say that enough."

"No worries, young man. Expect a knock at your door soon." Oz gives you a nod. "Good night, then. I look forward to speaking with you tomorrow."

You thank Ozpin once again and say good night. Soon after, you sit in your new room, eating delicious takeout pizza and adjusting to your residence. Once you finish, you put the rest of your pizza in the fridge and take a crack at the computers; it takes a minute to figure out the high-tech console, but you quickly find yourself exploring a web browser. Seeing no real place to start, you find a news site and start your education. You quickly learn that you have a LOT to learn. Ah, well. If you have to stay over, this is a nice place to do so.


	3. Chapter 3

You've picked up little. As it turns out, most news sights aren't bothered explaining the different one world has with another, so your studying didn't come up with a ton. Your research did enlighten you on a few things, but there was literally a world's worth of information out there that you could learn. Despite your best efforts, you spent a little too much time goofing off on different websites last night trying to figure out how to spend your time.

What you have learned is that there are a few major differences between your memory and reality. Going off the most important things… you'd probably say Grimm first; Grimm were literal monsters made of darkness that feed on negative emotions and regularly attack places. You learned that Grimm attacks are pretty regular, but people didn't actually know all that much about why Grimm exist, rather, they focused on how best to kill them. After that, the next important thing was Dust; it came in crystals, powered most everything, was processed by some megacorp, and let people basically do what looks to you like straight up magic. You don't remember jack about anything like that. After Grimm and Dust, you took a look at news sites and got a basic rundown on cities, countries, that sort of junk that's easy to grasp. You now live in one of the biggest cities here on Remnant, Vale, and attend one of several Huntsman academies, Beacon.

Aside from the basics and the massive differences, you learned about what you are. You are what is known as a Faunus, which are people that have one animal trait, which can be any thing from any animal, which is pretty crazy. You figured out that you have cat ears, but you still can't tell what breed. Something that you came across in your research on Faunus feels… oddly and uncomfortably familiar despite the circumstances; there were a high number of articles talking about race riots, police shootings, and most all, the latest news with the White Fang. A terrorist group took up arms against humans in order to take revenge for injustices, so tensions between Faunus and humans were pretty high, despite the fact that they were pretty much identical.

So, you are now caught up on the BIG picture, if nothing else. You'll have to talk around things while you continue to familiarize yourself with the world, but for now, you'll keep your lack of knowledge to yourself. For some reason, you don't really want everyone to know that you… aren't from here, and it's best to try and blend in. Assuming you stay a while, you'll adapt soon enough and it'll be like you've always been here.

Seeing as you'll be staying at Beacon for the time being, you need to get things! At the moment. Your only possessions are mismatched, ill-fitting clothes and a weird but cool cape. Well, after you check outside your door, you find a few other things Oz left for you; you bring in a box of correctly sized Beacon uniforms, your work laptop, a scroll, a service card, what looks like an futuristic ID, and some notes on how to get to a mall in Vale. Oh, hey, you have a full name! Looking at your new ID, Oz gave you the full name of Briar Redfield.

Looking at a note attached to your ID, you read, "This is a temporary identification while you get settled in. I apologize for choosing a last name for you, but I will wait until our meeting later to start the full registration process. Should you choose, you can still choose a different name to be registered under; you have the day to decide if you would like a different first or last name. Knock on my door when you are ready. -Professor Ozpin." Neat! You're okay with your name for now, but you have plenty of time to reconsider. You'll spend the day as Briar Redfield and see if it suits you.

Now that you have a name, you check out the notes Oz gave you. He mentioned that the service card is a voucher to a… what looks like a future car service. Upon investigating, it appears to be a sort of self-driving delivery van for you to put your stuff in so that you wouldn't have to carry all your new stuff home from downtown; basically, it looks like you can buy all your stuff, call a number, and get a rent-a-car back to Beacon that you didn't even need to drive. Another thing you learned was that the text here was pretty advanced; self-driving cars being widely available and used for grocery shopping was something, but robot soldiers and mechs were also nearing mass production. Aside from that, Oz's note also said to drop by his office when you were ready, so you have a plan for the day.

Still pretty nervous, you hop on a fancy looking future bus and begin the trip into Vale proper. You get there pretty uneventfully and start following Oz' directions to a mall. In between checking the small map screen with convenient waypoints and a minimap, you truly start to realize the breadth of the technology in Vale; streetlights were holographic, airships (not airplanes!) flew out along the horizon, and even the billboards were animated advertisements rather than faded pictures. An electronics store you pass by looks more like the secret lair of a super villain, as everything was giant, flat, transparent screens or projected holograms, but everyone just accepted it as normal. Everything you see is colored in a strange, exciting light filled with opportunity. You haven't even considered it up until this point, but it felt like the whole city was connected wirelessly, and you felt like it was difficult to find a place where you couldn't connect to SOMETHING.

Basking in the bright futuristic city before you, you eventually reach the mall. For as much as things changed, some things were always the same; barring the upgrade, the only difference between the malls you remember and this one was that the people were considerably more A. attractive, and B. a lot more fashionable. Somehow, despite everyone wearing bright colors, mismatched outfits, and weird armors pieces, everyone's clothes were cohesive, stylish, and practical. People also seem to be more fit in this world, you guess because maybe a lot of them were/are/will be Huntsman. Regardless of the reason, there were significantly fewer people that looked like they had given up on getting dressed that morning.

Feeling a bit embarrassed about the fact that you were wearing a school uniform before anyone had even started class, you hurry along. Food would come last since you plan on frozens, so you think your first mission should be shoes; at the moment, you have someone really large man's boots that he had lost at some point, so you'd like to get something a bit easier to walk in. Thinking ahead, you figure out the car service and assign it to park close to the mall entrance so you can have a place to put your things. The car is smart enough to know how to circle the mall, park, and drive up to curbs, so you can call it whenever you have a bunch of stuff to drop off.

As you start wandering, you are immediately reminded of one of the best things about a mall. A mixture of familiar smells hits you as you round a corner and see an escalator; looking up to the second floor, you spy a food court littered with fast food restaurants you don't recognize, but serve the tried and true junk food every tired mom, bored teenager, and cheap date love. Putting a hold on your shoe shopping, you grab a quick bite to eat; Oz was right in pricing things, as a full meal came up to about 10… what was it… lien! A meal cost about 10 lien, and what a meal it was; you're glad to see– err, *taste* that the food here in Vale was great.

Sufficiently fat and happy, you begin looking for a shoe store. On the way there, you notice that nobody really looks your way; nobody could tell that you didn't belong, and everyone just assumes that you're any other guy instead of a displaced newbie. Barring a few people wondering why you're wearing a school uniform and a few checking out your ears, nobody thinks anything of you, which gives you a weird sort of comfort. If anything, it helps with your plan of, "just roll with it."

Skipping ahead, you have two new pairs of shoes. After you check out, you swap your giant boots for a stylish new pair of shoes that actually fit, and instantly feel better about walking around. Now that that's settled, it's time to get some new clothes! You quickly find the half-off rack in a department store and start looking; you want to be careful with Ozpin's money and also make sure you understand how much a lien was worth, so you stick to relatively cheap stuff for now, making sure you budget accordingly. Right now, it's better to get a lot of clothes rather than waste the same money buying brand names, but you find some good stuff that fits and looks cool!

You walk out of the department store and into the parking lot. Still amazed at the technology in Vale, you call your rental car over to you; a boxy van pulls up alongside the curb, and opens up to let you drop off the several bags of clothes you bought. The car drives away with a couple of shirts (both fancy and casual), pants (a few jeans and a good pair of slacks), socks (though you actually put a pair on now, since the lost and found didn't have any), underwear (which you don't put on despite still freeballing it. That'd be weird to do outside a mall…), and some loungewear (because sleeping in an old uniform isn't great). Oz' money covered everything so far, and you still have plenty for food and other stuff. You decide to shop around a bit more before grabbing groceries. Before you go back into the mall, you throw on something else in addition to your socks; deciding to blend in a bit more, you pull your arms through the sleeves of a grey hoodie with some black trim and a big front pocket. Now that you're not running around in a school uniform, you feel like you fit in a bit more, so you stroll confidently back into the mall to continue shopping.

Shoes, check. Clothes, check. What was left on your list was just food for the week. Though, judging from your remaining cash, you have a little to spend on stuff. Checking out a few shops, you decide to pick up some basic school supplies, finding a cheap backpack, some pens, and some notebooks. You also find another essential item for school in an electronics store; you almost start listening to music on your new pair of headphones, but then you realize you don't have any music on your phone, nor do you even know a single song. You'll have to look into bands later, otherwise studying would be a very dull experience.

Thinking it was about time to grab food, you start heading to one of those all-in-one places malls have that carry everything from food to toys to clothes to whatever else. That would have some frozen food, plus any sort of fruits, sodas, or snacks you'd want in the next week until the cafeteria opened up. However, while you consider what kind of food you'd want, you pause as you pass by a storefront, something catching your eye. Said something was a rose. More specifically, you look at a small patch designed after a rose, meant to be sewn into clothes; you wander into what looks like a clothes store mixed with a paint studio, knowing you hadn't seen a place quite like it before.

Something that clicks in your mind is that, in addition to the people in Vale wearing bright colors, a lot of people had a sort of logo. You've noticed that a lot of passersby had someTHING someWHERE on at least one of their articles of clothing that identified them, whether it was a pink-haired girl with a fairy pin, a guy with antlers with a stylized pair on his shirt, or a fashionista with a crosshair on her belt. Everyone had a color, and everyone had an emblem. You have… well, you guess you actually have one of those, seeing as Briar referred to roses (and the obvious Redfield of you decided to stick with it); if you really wanted to fit in, you might as well get some red!

You spend a few minutes conceptualizing with a technician before they take your hoodie and emblazon a stylized rose on the back of it, tangled in a mass of thorns. Feeling significantly cooler, you grab a few rose/thorn-themed patches to throw on your other clothes. Soon enough, you're checked out with few bags of groceries, ready to explore the town a bit. You feel pretty ready to go now that you're pretty set up, living in your new life.


	4. Chapter 4

You stash your groceries in your rental shuttle and close the door. It zips away to find a parking space, leaving you to explore a bit; you have a few frozens, but they wouldn't go bad with a little extra transit time. You're only going to look around, anyway, so a full exploration can come later. Today was just getting a glance at the city for fun to help understand everything.

Again thankful for your new shoes, you start a walk with no direction. Leaving the parking lot of the mall, you find yourself walking past stores that manage to be familiar, but alien. You have a vague recollection of gun shops on the side of the road, but they were on every other corner in Vale; in addition, it seems that people aren't bothered about firearms at all, as they're marketed like toys for adults– or even people your age, honestly. You guess the fact that monsters are real might have something to do with that.

Curious, you step into a weapons shop and are… confused, to say the least. You expected guns, but… not EVERY gun; lining shelves were brightly colored rifles, futuristic pistols, bladed snipers, and… not even guns, but gun mechanisms. Something that also strikes you as weird was the fact that there were weapons lining the shelves. Medieval weapons, you should say… sort of. Between the AKs and the shotguns, there were swords, hammers, gauntlets, greaves, basically anything you would expect to see a fantasy video game character to wield. That said, they all looked just as complex as the guns, having triggers, joints, articulation, ports, vents, stuff you expect to see on firearms, and one particular weapon looked like the offspring of a sword and a motorcycle.

You stare blankly at the what-is-decidedly-not-medieval medieval weapons and try and figure out why a store sold a neon blue-bladed halberd alongside military firearms. You don't figure it out until a much older, grizzled enthusiast speaking with the cashier gets handed a large knife with electrical lines along the blade. Interested, you watch as he holds it, testing the weight. He points it forward as if threatening someone, spins it like a cowboy spins a revolver, and in slow motion, you see the blade unlock and reshape into a large magnum-styled pistol in what only took an instant. He lets out a pleased chuckle, pops out the magazine, puts it back, flips it back to a knife, then hands it back to the cashier.

Well, that was cool…

So, that's figured out. Weapons in Vale are AWESOME! On closer inspection, each weapon you look at has specs on how it can transform and integrate with other weapons. Immediately you start fantasizing about using all of the cool weapons in the shop but shake your head. Though you had to see where things went, you don't plan on becoming a fighter right now. You still browse the selection of weapons for fun, learning that, in addition to people using "archaic" weapons, they also use everything and the kitchen sink; in addition to swords and spears, the shop had catalogs of weird weapons like urumis, karambits, and macuahuitls. You don't even know what those are! Also, Dust blades and Dust rounds; you wonder what kind of things a Dust bullet can do. You can guess what a Fire Dust round can do, but an Earth bullet? And you read about Gravity Dust! So much cool stuff to learn about.

Deciding that you would need to learn a lot more about the weapons and technology available, you leave the weapons shop. You think you can still fit in a little more exploring before you should head back, so you start wandering down the road. It takes you a minute to realize, but as you turn a corner, you see that the holographic streetlights disappeared and were replaced with more familiar metal ones. You absentmindedly look up, wondering why there was a disconnect between the technology like that. Was the entire city not up to date? You wonder if it's because–

"Hey!"

With a jump, you return to your senses. You look around and lock eyes with three guys leaning on a wall that look like trouble; you put together that the reason these streets have metal streetlights is that you stepped out of the richer side of town. In addition to the streetlights, lots of trash and boarded up windows were around. You were too caught up to notice.

"You hear me!?" the probable leader of the trio shouted. He didn't sound like a reasonable individual, despite being scrawny, he still managed to be intimidating. The three of them looked maybe a bit younger than you, but about a third as intelligent. Together, they might form one intelligent guy, though one lackey would make up most of the weight.

Realizing you've been surveying the area rather than addressing the person talking to you, you answer, "Uh… hi?"

"What are you doing around here?"

You look around again. "Umm… exploring? I'm new in town–" you say, not entirely inaccurate.

"Cut the crap. Why are you so jumpy?"

You feel as though you are the appropriate amount of jumpy for the situation. In fact, considering you're exploring a brand new world, you're not even that jumpy.

"I was just walking, dude. Chill."

Leader boy steps away from the wall he was leaning on. His eyes focus downward. "I see. And where did you get those shoes?"

You look down at your new shoes. You didn't like where this was going, but you answer, "I bought them just a minute ago. Breaking them in."

"Really?" Leader boy steps forward, causing his lackeys to bump off the wall with him. "Because that sounds suspicious."

Feeling you might need to use your shoes for running in addition to walking, you open your stance in case you need to hightail it. "I bought new shoes. What of it?" You also try to slyly dial your rental to pick you up, but you can't navigate your scroll blindly.

"There's no way a guy like YOU could buy shoes THAT nice, then decide to come HERE to break them in. Nobody with that kind of money comes to this side of town, so you must have stolen them!"

Failing to see the logic in leader boy's words, you start to worry. He clearly was against you for some reason, and his goons didn't have the intelligence to disagree. "Whatever. I didn't steal them, but if it's a crime to talk a walk here, then I'll leave." Hoping exiting the situation would get them off your back, you start to turn. The trio takes a step closer to you. "I'm leaving."

"And if you ARE a thief?"

"I'm not. Look, I'm leaving, okay?" Deciding to get on with life, you start to pull out your scroll to call your car.

"He's pulling something from his pocket!" the fat lackey yells with an accusatory point.

"What!? It's a phone!" you shout to the air. They don't seem to listen or care. You quickly dial your rental car to pick you up, hoping five minutes was two seconds.

"What did he do!?" the other lackey asked.

Knowing it wouldn't matter, you answer, "I called my car." The gang somehow takes that as a crime and start walking towards you. Deciding to chance it, you turn and start hauling ass out of the area, running back to where you came.

"Head him off!" The leader begins running, chasing you for seemingly no reason. His lackeys break off, running to other streets to try and head you off.

Great. Luckily, you have a lot more stamina that you remember, but you still hate that you're running from a bunch of assholes for no reason. You just had to avoid them long enough to get to your car, which tracked your location. You manage to keep a distance, but you don't know where the other two went, so you try to hear where they are with your improved hearing.

"Get back here you furry freak! Damn animal!" the leader shouted, trying to gain on you as you turn on a street corner.

What?

Was… were you being chased because you were a Faunus? The guy chasing you was more concerned with calling you an animal than a thief. No time to think, back to running!

At about half a block away from the guy chasing you, you try to cut through an alley. Unfortunately, you find a chain link fence with the fat lackey on the other side, a stupid smile plastered on his sweating face. You pause to turn back, but the other two after you start coming in from that side. Deciding to put hope into your new(?) body, you go for the fence; if you could manage to jump over it, one out of shape guy was easier to fight/get away from than two.

You kick off from the ground, trying to gain as much speed as you can in your limited window. As you reach a point before the fence in front of you, you try and put as much spring into your leg as possible and jump; you find that everything you're doing feels… oddly natural, despite you having no recollection of having so much maneuverability. Your body lifts off the ground, flies through the air, and clears the fe–

The world grows slower as a wall appears before you. Though you managed to jump high enough to clear the (admittedly short) fence, several hexagonal glass-like plates take shape in front of the lackey, as if he were making them. You bounce painfully off of the bubble shield, falling back onto the ground and scratching your hands in trying to catch yourself. Without time to process what just happened, you climb back up and ready yourself to fight.

"Got him, Gild!" the fat lackey with the bubble shield said. He tries to climb the fence but fails, though he tries to play it off like he was guarding it instead.

"Thought you could get away, huh, freak?" the leader of the thugs/you guess Gild says. "Are all Faunus that dumb?"

You stop yourself from snarling. You were right; this bastard didn't care if you stole your shoes or not, he just cared if you had ears. Faunus must be the target minority around here, and this asshole decided to give you that lesson. Seeing no way out of this, you square up.

"Gonna try and fight your way out? What's the saying about a cornered rat?" Gild looks up at your ears and corrects, "I'm sorry, cornered _cat_. At a certain point, you all look the same."

Too pissed off to think, you force yourself not to respond. It suddenly occurs to you that the fat guy behind you can make bubble shields; was that some other kind of tech? These guys didn't look like they had money…

"Get him!" Gild shouts, though only the skinnier lackey listens, the fat one incapable of scaling a fence. The two thugs rush at you and start swinging.

You somehow find yourself able to dodge the first strikes, your body moving on its own. However, while you give a solid palm strike to Gild's jaw, you yourself take a hit from his friend. You step back, having taken a blow to the face; you can already feel your eye start to swell, but you don't try to stop. Dodging another blow from the skinny lackey, you sock him in the stomach.

Luckily, you ran into the three thugs on eart– Remnant- that don't know how to actually fight someone who could fight back. Given, you don't really either, but at least that keeps you from serious damage. You block a few strikes from Gild, but take a few from his buddy thanks to opening. Several shots of pain surge through you, forcing you back. You fall back onto a wall– a solid wall, not the chainlink fence; the fat lackey pushes his bubble shield forward, again knocking you to the ground.

"Take this, Feral!"

You suffer numerous kicks to the everywhere before you manage to push Gild and his buddy away to stand. Still a bit hazy, you throw a lucky punch, sprawling the skinny guy onto the ground. In addition to not knowing how to fight fair, they also can't seem to take a good punch. You shake off a hit from Gild and turn to reciprocate but a noise interrupts both of you.

A loud honk sounds off from the street outside the alley. Aware of what it must be, you take advantage of the distraction to land a punch square on Gild's nose; as he hits the wall, stunned, you immediately flee the scene, running towards the street.

Gild and his lackeys recover just in time to watch you hop in your rental car. They come out onto the street as your car's autopilot sends you off. You throw back some middle fingers to rub it in, hoping you never see them again. As you round a corner, you hear Gild shout one last, "Freak!"

As you fall back into your car's seat, you relax a little. You now have a major question to ask Oz about when you see him later, and that was, "How can an uneducated fatass create a bubble shield?" You might consider phrasing it better. As the adrenaline starts to wear off, you find your body aching and lacking breath. You consider one last quick stop before heading home for the day.

About 45 minutes later, you walk up to Ozpin's office with all your new stuff put away, sporting a red beanie that A. matched your jacket's new logo, and B. hid your cat ears from view. Oz turns on his massive gear chair to address you but immediately notices your injuries. He looks worriedly at you, but you cut him off before he gets a word out.

"Sign me up for combat lessons. I'm learning how to fight."


	5. Chapter 5

"I see. So you're unfamiliar about Semblances, then?"

"I'd say so."

"And Aura is new, as well?"

"Yup."

"Hmm… I apologize. I can understand an isolationist culture maybe not having seen a Faunus before and staying away from Grimm, but I've never heard of anyone unaware of Aura. I apologize for not informing you of these; I assumed they were universal."

"A fair assumption, honestly. If everyone you ever met knew, it's weird I don't."

"Yes, but I should have inquired further. In all my years teaching, I should have probed a bit more and found out everything you didn't know. Well, now you know."

Oz takes a sip of his hot chocolate, slightly annoyed with himself. You had just finished telling him about your injuries and your run-in with the gang of racists, and he had just answered your questions about how a guy made a bubble shield. You now know about Aura and Semblances, stuff that you guess is more than common knowledge.

"Would you mind standing? I'd like to test something."

You stand. Ozpin gets up from his chair and places his hand on your shoulder. You feel a strange sort of warmth coming from his body, flowing into you; you remember a similar feeling from when you first woke up in the crater.

"Hmm… Your Aura hasn't been unlocked, but it's still been acting to protect and heal you. I've seen this before on rare occasions; your body acted automatically to keep you alive, focusing your Aura on healing your entire body rather than a specific point. If I had to guess, whatever caused you to be in that crater nearly killed you, so your body did its best to keep you breathing until you woke up." Ozpin closes his eyes and whispers something before the warmth radiating from his hand grows more potent; the force spreads through your body, and you suddenly feel far… better. Your injuries weren't healing, but your body felt even lighter and stronger than before, but the feeling fades and turns inwards. Opening his eyes to address you, Oz adds, "I've unlocked your Aura permanently. However, judging from your injuries, it's still being focused on something other than your recent injuries. Unfortunately, until it heals whatever it is attempting to heal, your more superficial injuries will heal at a normal rate, and you won't be able to properly harness Aura to summer weapons and your body."

With your head spinning quite a bit, you ask, "Can you put that in simpler terms?"

"My apologies. Essentially, you very nearly died. Though you're alive and well, you must have drained any Aura reserves you had, and the last remaining amounts are busy healing deeper injuries automatically. Until those deep wounds heal, you can't willingly use Aura." Ozpin returns to his chair.

"So, wait, am I in danger?"

"No. The fact that you feel alright and are able to move around means that you have nothing to worry about, despite your hidden injuries. Still, any wounds you sustain in the near future will take a normal amount of time to heal; unfortunately, I believe your black eye will last into the semester."

"Well, at least I'm alive…" It's… not exactly comforting to know that you very nearly died in whatever caused that crash. It is nice to know that, once you heal up, you'll be able to help from injuries and protect yourself better with your Aura. "And what about a Semblance? Do I have one?"

Ozpin chuckles. "No, not yet, but that's no issue. Most Hunters and Huntresses don't develop one until well into training, and some never develop one. It isn't necessary to fight if you're skilled enough. I like to think of Semblances as the reflection of your soul that awakens when you need it; from what you described, I imagine the boy with the Aura shield needed to put a wall between himself and the world, leading to a defensive Semblance."

"I'll keep that in mind." You start thinking of what your Semblance could be. You don't know the rules, though, so it might depend on whatever; maybe if you fell off a cliff, you'd learn to fly, or maybe slow down? Something to think about, but not something to try. After all, it's not as if you're going be thrown off a cliff any time soon. That'd be crazy so early on in your Hunter life!

"I will say that most develop their Semblance during an extreme situation. I pray that you find a safe way to evolve it at your own pace." Ozpin looks at you fantasizing about potential superpowers and smiles. "With all that out of the way, you said you wish to attend combat classes after all?"

"Yes, sir." At first, you weren't sure. Fighting monsters seemed like an impossible dream, but the changes you've experienced tell you that it's possible; you're stronger, faster, and quicker to react than you remember, you (will) have an Aura shield, and your first experience outside involved a hate crime. You need to learn how to protect yourself more than anything, plus the idea of gaining a Semblance intrigues you, as does the idea of being a sort of hero. Above all, you kind of owe it to Ozpin; he was being so kind to you, so you might as well try to make him proud, or at least try. It's not like you had other plans, anyway.

"That's good to hear. You'll fit in with the rest of our students, and be able to work alongside them soon! However, since you're starting out from zero, and you can't use Aura for the time being, I'll hold off on assigning you to a team. Once you feel ready, I'll have you act as a rotating team member."

"That sounds perfect!" Though you figure you can get used to combat relatively easily, you realize you're lacking something. "So… I also visited a weapon shop when I went out."

Ozpin perks up. "Ah, yes. At Beacon, we train students to use their weapons effectively as part of the curriculum. However, most usually come from previous education and are already familiar with their weapon of choice."

"So I'm behind."

"In as many words. Students will be coming in with weapons that, in many cases, they have designed themselves and have been using for years. I recently met someone that is two years younger than you, but wields her weapon better than some of my senior students! You'll be behind, but I have faith you'll catch up in no time."

"I don't have a weapon, so that's going to be pretty hard right now. I don't suppose people can fight with their fists?"

"It's not unheard of, and I've taught a few students that decided that nothing more than Dust-enhanced knuckledusters suit them best, though I wouldn't recommend no weapon at all."

"How much are they?"

"Assuming you don't have the expertise to build one yourself, too much to invest. I apologize, but I won't be able to lend you enough money to purchase a weapon if you aren't certain that you wish to be a Huntsman. They can be rather pricey, and I am just a humble headmaster."

"No, that's fair. You've given me plenty already. I suppose I can work and eventually get one…"

"You may not have to, actually." Oz stands and begins walking out of his office. "Follow me, if you would." You get up and begin following him. He leads you down the elevator and into a what appears to be some sort of workshop, almost like the one where you got your hoodie emblazoned, though with a lot more machines. "This is our weapon workshop. Students come here to do maintenance and tinker with their weapons. Though, if you look over there," Oz says, pointing over to a wall. "We've seen many good hunters pass through this school, and some have decided in their age to hang up their weapons." You look over and see a few old and somewhat battered looking weapons hung proudly on stands behind glass. "These were donated by hunters who retired and didn't see the need to hold on to their past. As they don't see much use otherwise, I'm certain that nobody would have an issue with you using one; you can decide on whether or not you need a more personal weapon in the future, but I'm sure one will suit your immediate tastes."

Still unable to comprehend the gratitude you have towards Ozpin, you scan the line of old hunter weapons. Each were held up by pegs like in a museum, and while they showed their age, they all still carried an air of nobility and honor; you can tell that each were wielded by strong warriors who couldn't continue to fight like they used to. With a strange sort of reverence, you draw and hand across the glass pane and begin looking at all the weapons.

Immediately, you notice that the weapons before you were… well, not archaic, but they clearly weren't like the ones you saw in the weapon shop earlier. None of them looked like they had crazy transformations or guns, and a lot of them lacked that sleek futuristic look, appearing more like weapons you remember with a little extra flair. There's what looks like a hammer with a furnace built into it, an ax with a folding handle to make it longer, a rapier with a pistol built in, and a few more of the sort of proto-futuristic weapons. If you're being honest… you don't think they'd work with you; you don't know much about fighting, and you know less about the fancy tricks in these sorts of weapons. You don't want to be fighting and somehow jam your spear.

What catches your eye, in the end, is what looks like a relatively average, if a bit large, longsword, along with its sheath. The wide blade was a brilliant red color, as was the blunted spike-shaped pommel. The crossguard was an ornate golden depiction of what looked like… maybe wings? It was a semicircle with points coming off of it at measured intervals, including one down the blade. Maybe… oh, maybe a sun? Yeah, the gold coloring definitely made it resemble a sun, and the points must be sunbeams that also let you catch blades in a clash. Anyway, frayed black leather straps lined the longer-than-average handle, giving a good place to grip. In all, it was about five feet long, and the only thing you notice otherwise was that it had a trigger under a sunbeam point.

"Ah, does this one catch your eye?" Ozpin asks. You look at him and nod. "Simple, but effective and easy to handle. It ought to make an excellent weapon for someone without much experience." He begins unlocking the glass case and withdrawing the red sword. "Now if memory serves… there we are," he pulls it off and hands it to you. "This belonged to… well, his name escapes me, but he was an excellent Huntsman who put the sword down because of his family. If you pull that trigger, it will activate the Fire Dust in the blade and ignite. Go on, try it out."

You give your new sword a few practice swings. It's surprisingly light, or maybe you're just strong; Oz activating your Aura made you feel stronger before it faded to heal your deep wounds, so you deftly move the sword light as a feather. Hesitating a bit because of the clear violations of safety, you pull the trigger and jump back as the hammer ignites a spark, coating the blade in a fire. You let go and it fades out almost immediately.

"Well, that's awesome."

"I'm glad to hear you think that. I'm sure our previous owner would be happy to know his weapon is seeing more use. It's a fine blade indeed, and I'm sure you'll learn about how to maintain it soon."

You swing your sword a few more times, growing accustomed to the weight and balance. "Yeah, definitely. I'll be sure to take good care of it!" You retrieve the sheath from the display and put away your weapon.

"Excellent! That should about cover things for today unless you have any questions. I'll design your special curriculum later, but I would recommend taking it easy for the next few days. You aren't in any danger, but you should rest your body and assist your Aura. Maybe spend the evening looking more into Aura and Semblances. I'll be sure to try and think of more things that I may not have considered you not knowing, and start thinking about what tasks I will need to be completed by an assistant."

Experimenting on where to put your sheath on your body, you say, "Yes, sir! I'll keep doing my homework and see if there's anything else I don't understand."

"Good. In that case, dismissed."

You decide to play around with your sword a bit more. You find the training area in Beacon and start practicing swings. You're going to be behind, so might as well spend time catching up.


	6. Chapter 6

In the space of about ten days, you've more or less grown accustomed to life here in Vale. After your introductory period, you spent your time training with your new (old) sword, part timing for Ozpin's, and spending time figuring out that Remnant's internet is much like the one you remember, with all the let's plays, online games, and social sites you could hope for. Now that you've finally grown accustomed to your new life and body, it was time to shake things up by starting your first semester at school!

What you didn't expect was that your first day of orientation would start with an explosion right outside your window. The loud boom instantly wakes you up, throwing you out of bed, ready for action. Upon looking out your window, you see a bunch of people casually walking around, wandering towards orientation and completely unconcerned with the explosion. You shrug and guess it was something else. Today, you would be joining people your age as they prepared for classes. The fact that they were here meant that you woke up late; the giant airship that had delivered them was scheduled to drop them off at 3, so you REALLY went overboard on web surfing last night. You quickly throw on clothes and your beanie and join the confused crowds of people.

It takes you a moment to remember why everyone that makes eye contact with you takes a bizarre second glance. You still had a pretty nasty black eye from those racist thugs you met the other day, so people probably made their own assumptions. Still, it was nice to be around a bunch of people your age; you've spent the past week hanging around with Ozpin, and your lack of transport limited your time outside Beacon. Plus, seeing as these were students coming to a new school, they didn't know anybody, just like you! It's a perfect chance for a fresh start.

You spend a bit aimlessly wandering around Beacon, following the blob of future students until you're all led to the dining room. The confusion shared by everyone meant that nobody was really receptive to talking, so you don't make any friends just yet. Soon, though, you form a messy line and collect trays of pizza and lemonade, the linchpin of any young adult catering; you find yourself sitting next to several strangers, all of which wore completely different styles, colors, and aesthetics. Something that had yet to sink in was that fashion was CRAZY here in Vale, with armor being worn along with jeans, and medieval knight gauntlets being paired with biker jackets.

You introduce yourself to a barrel-chested man that somehow had a full-on Viking beard at 20, a pink-haired woman half your size, a douchey-looking guy with a green Mohawk, and an excitable blonde with a scarf and jacket. Most of your conversation is drowned out by the massive crowd surrounding you, but you think that most of them are pretty cool. The Mohawk guy is the only standout, as you can't help but think that his dumb blank face looks a lot like the guys that gave you your black eye. The rest (try to) talk about what school they came from and why they chose Beacon, and they all ask about your eye; seeing as they can barely hear you any play, you brush it off as nothing.

Everyone finishes their early dinner and the orientation proceeds. You all flock to the auditorium and form clumps as Ozpin prepares a speech welcoming everyone to Beacon. You end up next to the Viking guy and the pink girl, but the blonde seemingly recognizes a small girl with a cape and goes off on her own. You listen to Oz's somewhat hollow speech about protecting people and seeking knowledge; he sounded completely detached from his usual self that you've been hanging around with as if he were speaking to no one. You write it off and are soon dismissed by Pr. Goodwitch, who prompts you to gather in the ballroom to spend the rest of the night.

The throngs of people filter out of the auditorium and enter their sleeping quarters for the night. You find it odd, but rather than shacking up in a multitude of empty rooms remaining, Oz had decided that everyone would be spending the first night in a giant sleepover; close to 200 hundred students line the floors in sleeping bags, filling the ballroom with ceaseless chatter. Lucky for you, you have your own room, so you can hang with new people and then go to bed… on a bed. Sleeping on the floor surrounded by countless people sounds… less than fun, especially considering the likelihood of your beanie falling off while you sleep.

For now, you have the night to try and make friends. As you look for friendly people to talk to, your social anxiety kicks in as you realize there are a million people around you and nobody knows anybody. Theoretically, there was nothing stopping you from leaving right now and going back to your room; you'd make friends eventually, and this IS another situation where everybody is talking and nobody is listening. To be honest, the heat was uncomfortable, as was the prospect of talking to a million people.

Just as you decide to call it quits, you hear a voice clearly directed towards you. "Oh, hey!" You turn and see the blonde girl you sat next to at dinner earlier wave at you. The girl with the cape panics and tries to do something to stop the blonde but is easily stopped by an outstretched arm. Giving a mental shrug, you head over towards the two, slipping past the crowd. The blonde definitely makes an imprint, her bright yellow hair a glowing beacon amidst the crowd, so you easily track her down.

Looking at the girl in red, the blonde introduces you. "Ruby, this is Eye Guy, the one I was telling you about!" She looks at you and smiles. "Hi, Eye Guy!" The red girl admits defeat and sheepishly waves.

"Eye Guy?" You remember that your most defining characteristic right now is the fact that you have a black eye. "Oh, right. Hi!" you say, foolishly deciding to touch your eye. You ignore the stinging pain and outstretch a hand to shake the blonde girl's welcoming grasp. "Briar. Briar…" you take a second to remember your last name is, "Redfield."

"Yang! Yang Xiao Long!" Yang's firm grasp informs that, in addition to being a social butterfly, she was also very, very strong. She nods to the girl in red. "And this is my sister! See? I told you you'd like him! He's Briar, you're Rose! It's like destiny or something!"

The girl in red whispers something before Yang elbows her. "I'm Ruby Rose," she says, forcing herself to look at you. It's pretty obvious that Ruby is shy as the day is long, clearly out of her element in this overpopulated ballroom. It's also obvious that she's noticeably smaller than just about everyone; even though the pink girl was tiny, she looked like an adult, but Ruby still had a youth around her face that everyone was lacking. She looked young, and also nothing like her sister.

"Sorry about her. Ruby's more used to talking to swords than people."

"Hey!"

"You are, though."

"Don't tell people! They'll think I'm weird!"

"You ARE weird, sis."

"Yang!"

You can already tell that Yang is a fun person to be around. Lucky you sat next to her! Her sister… well, she wasn't into socializing, but she's cute and shy. You hope that should you become friends and there aren't so many people around, she'll be a bit more talkative.

"So, Eye Guy– er, Briar, this is Ruby! She's bad at making friends, so I'm helping!" Yang gives you a big smile.

Ruby violently shakes her hands, trying to stop her sister. "You are NOT helping! Everyone's gonna think I'm weird and no ones gonna like me!"

You laugh at the sisters' antics. "I dunno, I'm kind of warming up to you."

As Ruby turns scarlet and hides her face in her cape, Yang gives you a painful smack on the back. "See? Your big sis has got you covered!"

"So she's your sister? You're not twins, are you?" You say that but Remnant may have weird twin rules; maybe twins could be born with radically different hair/eyes/heights/everything else.

Yang sort of shrugs. "Technically half-sister, but yep. We've been together since she was born, so who cares about the specifics?"

Trying to not sound rude, you ask, "Since she was born?" You look at the young-looking, round-faced Ruby. "How old are you?"

"She's 17!" Yang answers, expecting Ruby to continue hiding.

"Really?" That was odd. Ozpin had told you that most Beacon students start at 19, 18 being the youngest. For her to be a whole two years behind seems a bit crazy.

"Ye–" Ruby starts.

"Yeah!" Yang puts an arm around her sister and starts teasing her, cutting her off. Pride flows from her voice as she explains, "My little hero here got in on recommendation! She stopped a robbery all but herself and the headmaster let her in early!"

You remember Ozpin talking about somebody that was already better at fighting than most seniors despite being younger. It could only be Ruby! "Wow! Oz told me about you, actually!"

Ruby perks up, suddenly a bit more confident. "He did?"

Yang, also confused, asks, "He did?" as well. "When? Wait, you call him Oz? Do you know Pr. Ozpin?"

Whoops. Accidentally spoiled that secret. Oh, well, it's not that huge. "Yeah, long story short, I've been living here at Beacon the last few weeks. I'm Oz's… Well, I guess I'm his secretary."

"Huh." Yang inspects you a bit, though you don't know what she expects to find. "Cool!"

"Yeah, he mentioned someone that was really young, but already has a great handle on their weapon. Must be you, Ruby."

Ruby lights up like a Christ– er, wait, what was the holiday again? Ruby lights up at the mention of a weapon. "Oh, yeah! Crescent Rose is like my baby!"

"I told you she's better at talking to swords."

"Crescent Rose is a High Velocity Sniper Scythe! She's SO MUCH cooler than a boring sword!"

You try not to let the fact that your weapon is a (comparatively) boring sword show on your face. The fact that your weapon is a (comparatively) boring sword totally shows on your face.

Ruby picks up on your sheepish face and gets the message that she unintentionally said something offensive. "N-n-not that swords are bad or anything! J-just that… uh… uh…" She stumbles for words for a moment but finds nothing.

"I think what she's trying to say is that she'd love to take a look at your weapon," Yang says, covering for her sister. "She's a tinker at heart, plus she MIGHT be a bit better at talking to weapons than people."

"Both of these are true," Ruby says, relenting and staring at the ground.

You've been getting used to your sword over the past few days. You think you've pretty much gotten the hang of the weight and extra length, plus you've learned how to properly activate the Fire Dust trigger at good times during an attack. That said, you haven't seen anybody else fight save some stuff you saw online; even novice Huntsman could do all sorts of flips and tricks in a fight, usually paired with their unique weapon transformations, which you lack. Maybe letting Ruby take a look at your weapon and suggesting some new add-ons would be helpful. Heck, you need to start getting some combat training in with a real person; up until this point, you've only been training using dummies, so you're probably at a plateau until you get a living person to spar with. Hopefully, you'll be able to get some friends who will spar with you, but you also need to do that when you can use Aura since you're still Eye Guy for the time being.

"Maybe you could look at my weapon once classes start." You see Ruby's eyes widen; tinkering seems to be way more her speed, which was good. You consider for a moment before saying it, but you mention, "I've kinda been running with a hand-me-down, so it could use a tune-up." You neglect to mention that you've had your weapon for less than two weeks, and that, "hand-me-down," doesn't mean it was an heirloom; you still feel like keeping your whole situation secret, at least until you're closer friends. "Hit me up once you're settled in! I'd be happy to let you take a look at it." You consider something for a second. "Actually, I could show you right now. Like I said, I've been living here for a bit, so I already have my room set up; if you want to get away from the crowd, I could show you and you could take a look at my sword."

"A bold one!" Yang laughs. "We only just met and you're inviting us back to your room? What would dad say?"

"Yang!" Ruby whines, grossed out. "I was gonna say yes!"

"Well, that's… half a surprise, I guess. You really do hate crowds if you want to go to a boy's room." Proving her sister's point, Yang bumps into somebody, apologizes, then backs up into a different person. "You know, I could actually go for a little space. C'mon, Ruby, get your bag and we can duck out for a bit."

"Oh, thank gosh," Ruby says, breathing out.

Both Ruby and Yang grab their backpacks full of their overnight stuff. The three of you wind in between everyone until you reach the halls, where you lead them to your room. All of you are glad to get away from the crowds and noise, and you're pretty happy that you get to spend time with two nice, quirky girls rather than make small talk with a bunch of people you'll probably never talk to again. It's definitely a nice start to the semester. 


	7. Chapter 7

"Wow, you've had all this to yourself?" Yang looks around your room built for four people.

"Yep. It's been pretty nice."

"I'd say so. My room is half this big."

"Mine, too," Ruby says. "But we're gonna share!"

"Ruby, I told you that won't happen unless we get placed on the same team." Yang suddenly gets an idea and looks at you. "Come to think of it, if you've been here all this time, then do you know how we get paired up?"

You shrug. "Oz kept that a secret from me. I got nothing."

"Almost had him," Yang said, shaking her fist at the ceiling. "The gods have foiled me again." She tosses her bag on one of the beds you weren't using and sits down. "Ahhh it's so nice to have SPACE again."

"I very much enjoy not touching other people," Ruby whispers, far more comfortable now that she wasn't in a crowd. "Thanks for letting us in."

"No problem! I've been pretty much on own since I got here."

"What's up with that, by the way?" Yang asks, falling back onto the bed. "Why are you living here?"

You take a moment to think. Deciding on something that wasn't necessarily wrong, you say, "I kinda fell into it. My parents are… off somewhere, but Oz thought it was fine and the semester was starting up soon anyway. Before you ask, no, it's totally cool." You neglect to mention that, while your parents PROBABLY are out there, they may not be anywhere on this planet.

"Fair play. Cool you got set up, though. It's gonna suck not having your own room starting tomorrow."

You scratch the back of your head. "Uh… actually…"

Yang sits up and looks at you. "What?" Ruby also turns, interested.

"More long story short, but I'm not getting assigned a team."

"Why's that?"

"Truth be told, I'm a novice at fighting. Right now, I'd only get in the way. My Aura's also… wonky right now because of some deep injury, so I can't fight anywhere near your level. Oz thought it'd be best to have me heal up and go from there."

"I was wondering about your eye. What the heck happened, anyway?"

You have a sudden flash of inspiration. Covering a few bases, you say, "Car accident. A bad one. My Aura's still keeping me together, but I got pretty messed up. I still have a bit of memory loss, so I'm a bit fuzzy at times."

Ruby zips to your side, inspecting your face. "Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay!?"

"I'm alive." You ease Ruby's mind by raising your arms. "Lotta weird situations with me, so I'm taking it slow. Once I can use my Aura freely, I can go on missions and stuff, but for now, I'm just in training."

"We found a weird one, Rubes. I like him."

"He's not a zoo animal, Yang!"

Your cat ears perk up. You hope they didn't notice. Yang and Ruby were nice, but racism could hide behind all sorts. "Nah, nah, it's fine. Anyway, you wanted to look at my sword?"

Ruby pops up. "Oh, yeah! Show me, show me, show me!"

"Calm down, Ruby. He hasn't even bought you dinner yet."

"Yang!"

Chuckling, you pull your sword off of another empty bed. You decide to maybe organize things a bit more now that you might have people over, but you hand your massive longsword to Ruby, sheath and all. The young girl easily lifts it like it were nothing, despite it still taking you down a few pegs with every swing. Aura control must be crazy…

Ruby inspects the large, reddish brown sheath that was originally displayed with the sword. It was mostly featureless aside from some flame patterns burned into it. Measuring it with her eyes, she estimates the length, then gives you an up and down look. "Hey, can you show me how you carry this really quick?" She held out your sword, waiting for you to grab it. You take it and hang it across your back; it was a bit too long to hang comfortably at your hip without dragging, so you'd been getting used to that. "Ah, okay." Ruby beckons for it back, and you comply.

Ruby continues her survey. You and Yang watch with interest as she pulls the blade out from the sheath a few times, muttering numbers and descriptions to herself. Running her fingers along the sun-styled crossguard, she finds the trigger to the flame function. Finally, she pulls it out completely and inspects the Dust-infused blade. Looking between you and the sword, she focuses on solutions to whatever problems she was facing.

"So? What do you think?"

Ruby puts the sword back into its sheath and hands it back to you. "It's a bit old, but it's a great sword! It can coat itself in fire, right? That's what that mechanism is usually good for."

"Yeah, it does."

"Okay…" Ruby goes over her critiques. "So… you want me to upgrade it, right? Nobody would get angry if I modify it? It looks like it was passed down, so I don't know…"

"You're good. You know better than I do." You hope that whoever owned this sword would be fine with it being upgraded; hopefully, they wouldn't care as long as it was being used. They'd probably never know, anyway.

"Great! So I have a few ideas on how to make it better."

"Shoot."

"Well, I can't do that. It doesn't have a firing mechanism, and adding one wouldn't be worth interfering with the balance and would jeopardize the flame trigger."

"He meant say your suggestions, not actually make it shoot."

Ruby turns red. "I-I-I knew that! I was joking!"

"Sure."

"Your suggestions, please! Sorry." You scratch the back of your head again.

"Whoever used that last was probably a lot taller than you. It's too big to carry around comfortably, so you'll lose time when you draw. The handle is also a bit long for this type of weapon, and I don't see a reason why. With my tools and the workshop, I should be able to modify it so that both can be shortened." Before you have a chance to respond, Ruby continues, breathlessly explaining her decisions. "Shortening the blade will make it more compact and easier to carry. It'll make it easier to pull out, so you can use a modified hip-mounted sheath. I should also be able to add a second trigger that will let you extend the blade to full-length; you're already used to fighting with a longsword, so you'll still have access to that, but you'll also be able to wield it as a shortsword. I can do a similar thing for the handle, so it can be extended as well, allowing for you to use it as a close range stake-driver. It will be slightly lighter as a result, so it loses some attack power from the lost weight but will be slightly easier to lift. I won't be able to add functionality for other Dust types due to the Dust-Metal infusion, but I may be able to fit in an auxiliary attachment that can emit a cloud of Dust which can then be detonated, and you would be able to insert other types there for elemental attacks." You see Ruby suffer a flashback at that last sentence; for some reason, you think back to the explosion you heard when you woke up.

You blink. It takes about a full three minutes before you process what Ruby said. Half of it is all the jargon you don't fully understand, but it sounded like she knew exactly what she was talking about and exactly how it would look, function, and weigh just from that description.

"So, you understand why Ozpin was interested in her?" Yang looks at you, beaming with sisterly pride.

"I can see why Ozpin was interested in her."

"And you haven't even seen me fight!" Ruby instinctual reaches for her weapon, her arm grabbing at something that would be mounted on her back hip. "With my Crescent Rose, I can– and I DON'T have Crescent Rose on me! That's embarrassing!" Despite saying that, Ruby already seems pretty comfortable with you around, so she doesn't freak out.

"You just couldn't stick the landing, could you?" Yang teases. "Nah, but she'd be happy to give your sword a tune-up once we get set up tomorrow. I don't think literally all of our classmates would appreciate hearing blowtorches go off all night, so you'll have to wait a bit."

"Yeah, I'd need my tools and to get used to what they have in the workshop here, but I'd be happy to help!"

You look expectantly at your sword and then back to Ruby. Though, it crosses your mind that Ruby didn't say anything about payment. If she was going to tune up your sword and out what sounded like a ton of work into it, you don't want to skimp her. You ask, "So you'd really be cool doing all of that? Like, did you need me to buy parts or anything?"

"Nah, I should have all I need. I got a lot of spare parts from Crescent Rose, and nothing in your sword would require any custom parts."

"What's she saying is that she'll happily do it for the low, low price of dinner for three~" Yang says, a seductively devilish smile on her face. "Not to strongarm you, but I think such a huge improvement to your sword warrants at least two Monster Mac meals." She tilts her head, making herself look as cute as possible.

Ruby turns to her sister. "Yang! Why does he have to buy YOU food, too!? You're not gonna be doing anything!" She looks back at you, nervously. "Not that I was gonna ask you to buy me food… I'M thankful enough that you gave me an excuse to leave the ballroom."

"Middleman fee," Yang justifies, laughing. "I introduced you, plus, you should NEVER work, 'for exposure.' You got talent, might as well make it worth your time."

You reassure Ruby, saying, "It's fine. That's the least I could do to repay you." You don't think buying fast food would hurt that much. Sure, you don't have a ton of money, but you'd be earning plenty and it's not like you have much to pay for; you don't pay rent, the cafeteria opens up tomorrow, and you're set on clothes for now. You can spare some change for the sake of friendship and badass sword mods. "Just let me know when you're all set up and you can go at it. We can grab dinner right after you're done."

"Great! I look forward to it," Yang says, despite this being Ruby's project. You wonder if the blonde sneaks in favors like this often.

"I'll let you know once I've finished tuning up Crescent Rose! I need to see what I'm working with at Beacon, so I need to work on her first to get used to things."

"It's settled then!" You're glad that Ruby is good to tune up your weapon, but she also makes you realize something. You didn't really think that a weapon name would be important, but Ruby has mentioned Crescent Rose several times by this point; you should probably think up a good name for your sword before she asks about it. You want to make it seem like your sword was passed down through your family, so it needs a name. That's a problem for later, though. "I'm good whenever."

"Same." Yang looks at her scroll. "That said, it's probably time to head back to the ballroom. They probably don't want us running around all night, and I KNOW you don't want me telling dad you spent your first night at Beacon sleeping in a boy's room."

"I very much do not want that!"

"Glad we're in agreement." Yang nods at you. "Hey, while we're here, mind if we use your bathroom to change? I got my pajamjams in my bag, and if we don't do it now, we're gonna have to wait for the ballroom bathrooms to free up."

"I hadn't thought of that…" Ruby mutters. "Yeah, that's a good idea."

"Go for it."

"Sweet!" Yang hoists up her bag and goes over to the bathroom to change. "No peeking~" she says in a manner that is far more flirty than it is threatening. You wonder if she would mind, but you feel like keeping your face intact, so you don't think of risking it; Yang was an attractive woman, with a great body, and fun personality, and some very impressive muscles on her, which also meant she could probably break every bone in your body should you perv on her. You're content to enjoy the fact that there's a hot girl undressing mere feet from you. That's a nice thing to think about.

Yang comes out dressed in a tiny set of short shorts and a tight orange tank top. As Ruby goes to change, you admire Yang's bare arms; without her sleeves, you see that she's pretty jacked, which belied the image you would normally associate with a spunky blonde. You wonder if all the girls at Beacon are going to be muscular; Ruby seems a bit smaller, but her sister definitely sets a good standard for your taste in Amazons (does that term even exist here? What's an Amazon again? Whatever, muscle girls are hot).

You and Yang make small talk until Ruby comes out of the bathroom in a black tank top and an adorable pair of rose-print pajama pants. They thank you for the rescue from the crowd and the opportunity to change, then say goodbye. You wave them off, glad to know that you made some good friends on your first day at school.


	8. Chapter 8

Things were pretty quiet. Seeing as you wouldn't be participating in Beacon's initiation, you weren't fussing around with weapon checks and gear. Instead, Oz had asked you to come in and help him with some logistic work for the students coming in. As you carry a large box full of transcripts around a cluttered office, you take a peek at an open laptop, which had a camera feed going. It was a drone feed pointed at the edge of an unremarkable cliff. Curious, you look at Oz and ask, "So… I never actually asked. What IS the initiation? Like, what do they do?"

Oz pauses as he examines a folder marked Ja- something. "Oh, I suppose I never did tell you. Well, if my watch is correct…" He looks at his watch. "Then we should expect to hear–"

"Attention," you hear over an intercom. Glynda's voice continues, "All first-year students, please report to the Beacon Cliff for initiation. It will begin in 30 minutes."

"Punctual as usual, Ms. Goodwitch," Oz laughs. "I need to be there to explain the actual events of the initiation, so I can't spare too much time to explain to you. The abridged version is that the students will have to fight their way through the Emerald Forest– where we found you, actually– and retrieve a relic." He looks at all the boxes and papers. "You should be able to take care of the rest of this by yourself in the next few minutes." Handing you the strangely-marked folder in his hands, he instructs, "Put this with the rest of the transcripts, and please refrain from looking at its contents. Once you finish tidying up, I ask that you head into the security room beneath my office; we've repurposed the security drones for the day to record the initiation, so that will allow you to view what goes on in full detail. I'll count this as part of your work, so do pay attention so you can see what Beacon Academy expects out of its students. It will be VERY elucidating. Glynda and I will join you after the initiation begins."

"Yes, sir!"

Ozpin nods his head and heads out to instruct the other students. Spurred on, you quickly out the rest of the boxes away and file the last few papers before rushing up to his office. You quickly find the security room he was referring to; it was completely covered in monitors that look like they had just been restarted because of the semester. Though you imagine they usually correspond to drones watching various locations around campus, they were all pointed at the cliff from earlier.

You see Oz and Glynda standing before all of the first year students. Behind them was a large sheer drop leading to what you know as the Emerald Forest. Though you can barely hear them, you understand that they must be giving the instructions. You notice as they finish talking that all the students are standing on weird squares set into the dirt; each of them barring a lanky looking blonde prepare for… something? You can single out Yang and Ruby, plus that Mohawk guy you met yesterday, and each was bracing themselves for whatever the test was. They were all pointed at the edge of the cliff, so you guess maybe the test is to-

What!? Where did they all go!? Did the cameras lag out or something? One second, everyone was standing on a square, and the next, they were completely gone! You sort of catch in as the drone cameras start flying around, giving you a grander picture of what was happening.

THAT'S STEP ONE!? LAUNCHING EVERYONE OFF A CLIFF!?

What did you sign up for!?

As the drones catch up with the catapulted students, you start to see what Oz meant by letting you, "see what Beacon Academy expects out of its students." Seeing as you could easily pick her out of a crowd, you follow Yang as she soared through the sky with a pair of aviators on; you watch as she utilizes a set of big yellow shotgun gauntlets to blast herself forward with enough propulsion to make her look like she was flying. In fact, she looked like she was having the time of her life!

You watch as every other student enacts their landing strategies. Some use their weapon's guns to slow their descent, others use grapples, and you spy an oddly familiar looking girl blast through several trees using her shield. Immediately, you feel inadequate, as you have no idea what you would do were you to be launched off a cliff. You're really glad your Aura isn't available, otherwise agreeing to combat courses would likely mean you had to be in that initiation.

You watch with fascination as the students start their test. You look at the dozens of cameras trying to find who to watch, eventually settling on Yang just out of familiarity; she was easy to notice considering the drone following her caught several explosions coming from her area. She casually wanders through the forest, not at all concerned with the fact that she had just provided you with a free action movie. Eventually, her head turns, though the drone doesn't pick up what was going on.

Keeping an eye on Yang, see her ready her weapons. From behind some trees, two thick, black shadows rise out, giving you your first real glimpse of what you know to be Grimm; you'd seen pictures in your research before, but they failed to convey the fact that they resembled inky stains, pure black simulacrums of bears with bony masks. You feel a shiver down your spine as you worry about Yang; dispelling your fears, she cheerfully does a one-two, showing off to the beasts. A few moments later, you see the remains of one of the Ursa fade away as Yang finishes her devastating combo. You feel comfortable knowing that the monsters you didn't understand were killable, and by a novice, no less. That said, you think Yang might be stronger than you initially thought; not even out of breath, she aims to take on the other Ursa, but it falls dead at her feet. From behind it comes…

You only get a glimpse of the woman who pops out from behind a bush, having silently killed the other Ursa. The camera following Yang didn't focus on her, so you call only really tell that it's a woman with long black hair and black and white clothes. Immediately, you see Yang take an interest in her, then realize they must be pairing up. They start to head in a direction, so you decide to try and find more action and a better camera angle.

Ruby eventually catches your eye as someone else you recognize. She had found a partner in a short, stern-looking girl with white hair, white skin, white everything. They were currently running from… is that a massive forest fire? Just what is this test!? You also see Ruby casually slice a tree in half with her massive scythe that looked heavier than her. God, you NEED to get your Aura in check if that's what someone like her could do with it.

You follow other students adventures as time goes on. Though you feel a bit weird watching them all without them knowing, you still focus your eyes on how they fought, how they moved, how they use their weapons in all sorts of crazy ways. Knowing that the stuff they did was all possible made you feel way more confident in your future; once you harness Aura, you need to learn how to do all sorts of crazy stuff just to get on their level. During your studying, you see Oz and Glynda overlooking the initiation, monitoring them much like you are; Oz must have forgotten to come back to the security room, so you get to focus on things alone. If you feel the need, you'll go over it with him, but you can probably learn all you need by yourself.

Time passes, and you watch a lot of crazy stuff happen. Eventually, you finish your viewing party watching Ruby somehow decapitate a giant crow after another team destroyed a massive scorpion. Honestly, you're dizzy from everything; part of you regrets deciding to fight, but the other part is too excited over the thought of being able to do the sort of things you'd only see in movies. You'll be a huntsman! A hero! And you know that you'll do great! And most of all, it'd be really cool!

A little while later, you find yourself in the auditorium, listening to Oz formally form the four-man teams for the next few years. You watch that Mohawk guy from yesterday gets sorted into CRDL with some other meatheads and that familiar-looking shield rush girl gets sorted with a blonde guy, a hyperactive girl, and a quiet guy in green into JNPR before your friends show up. Laughing, you remember that Yang said that there wasn't a high chance of her being in a team with her sister; Ruby accepts her role as the leader of Team RWBY, along with Yang, the white-haired girl, and the dark-haired girl you didn't get to see properly.

Now that you look at the dark-haired girl properly, you see that… Brothers Grimm, she's… wow. Just… wow is she… wow. You still are only seeing her from across an auditorium, but she immediately captivates you; from a glance, she was quiet and subdued, especially compared to the boisterous Yang and the bouncy Ruby. Just from the way her eyes were narrowed with a satisfied smirk on her face made you feel like losing your identity was worth it. Her long black hair was silken like her bow, and combined with her dark outfit made her olive skin stand out beautifully. Her eyes, though set in a lidded smirk, were a piercing gold color, the shade purer than Yang's hair. You see her giggle at Ruby shying away from the audience clapping for her and loathe the fact that you aren't close enough to hear her voice.

As you forget about Ruby and Yang, you watch the dark-haired girl step off the stage. Even the way she walked told you all about her; she had a practiced, quiet step, befitting of the air of mystery surrounding her. She was one of subtlety in her expression, facing the world with a sashay and a smirk.

It takes several minutes before your eyes turn from the area where the woman disappeared to. You didn't even bother to hear what Ozpin said about the other teams, instead focusing on loving the fact that you were living in a world like this. The idea of getting to go to school to learn how to be a hero AND be surrounded by beautiful, interesting, strong women killed any resentment you still had over your lost past. The day soon ends as the last of the teams are assigned, and Ozpin breaks you all up to go to your new (well, not for you) rooms and get acquainted with your new (well, not for you) teams. You eventually find your way back to your room, eager to truly start your new life at Beacon.


	9. Chapter 9

Whimsy only lasts so long.

Fantasy becoming normal wasn't as mythical as expected.

Lessons were still lessons, no matter the subject matter.

God, you forgot school could be this boring. Though you're going to an academy dedicated to teaching you how to be a badass guy that can kill monsters for a living, it was still an academy. As it turns out, having a fat guy rattle on about fake achievements he committed decades ago was boring even if he was describing himself hunting and killing literal monsters. Your new professor, a heavyset man named Port, had so far spent your first class droning on about stuff you knew couldn't be real. The guy was like, eight times your weight, and his weapon was a blunderbuss with an ax taped to it in a world where you can make any old thing transform.

You look at your notes. Seeing as you were eager to learn, you had started taking dutiful notes about the Four Kingdoms and what it takes to be a Huntsman, but less than half a page in, you were already drawing swirlies and stick figures with cool flame swords. The only interesting thing that had happened in the past twenty minutes was that a guy across the room yelled, "AAA YEAH!" which spoke leagues about Port's teaching style. Again, academia just sucks the fun out of cool stuff. You look around and see the mix of people in class with you; your eyes quickly find Ruby below you, who was busy doodling childish pictures. You're glad to see that you aren't the only one slacking, even if the white-haired girl sitting next to her was clearly annoyed. Hopefully, Team RWBY's team dynamic was good, but this girl seemed on edge. Looking over, you see Yang and that dark-haired girl she was with. Yang's notes were well organized and highlighted based on section, but were still covered in doodles. The dark-haired girl had filled her page with illustriously calligraphic handwriting, showing that she was actually paying good attention, at least to the important bits. That said, you see her sketch out a figure as she realizes the anti-lesson Port was talking about.

You need to remember to say hi to Ruby and her team. You and Yang were already good enough friends for day one, but you're very interested in seeing more of their friends. You can't shake the feeling that you've seen the white-haired girl around; even though you were still new to this world, she looked familiar, just like that redhead on JNPR, even if you don't know why. And then there was her.

Yang's dark-haired partner was still on your mind. You knew nothing about her, and she was a complete mystery. You can tell a lot about the white-haired girl based on appearance; she was stiff, rich, and overly proper. You knew more about what you DIDN'T know based on the dark-haired girl's appearance. It was easy to tell she was a bit more introspective, but she had so much to tell without words. Yang wore her heart on her sleeve (and her shirt), and Ruby communicated, "excitable but shy," pretty well, but you really want to talk more–

"Oh, Ms. Schnee! You're volunteering?"

Oh, crap, what did you miss? Damn, nice, quirky girls had distracted you from this boring class. Hopefully, it wasn't anything super useful, but you wonder what it cou– SCHNEE! She's the Schnee girl you saw on all those online articles! Weiss Schnee was all over the news as you were looking up Dust a few weeks ago! THAT'S where you recognized her from! God(s?), that was going to annoy you otherwise… Her father is famous for being the king dick of the Schnee Dust Company, so she's loaded, and also probably a rich bitch; you didn't read too many good things about the SDC, especially in regards to Faunus labor. Your ears twitch, unintentionally angrily.

Returning to the current world, you see that Weiss Schnee had stepped out to swap into a fancy white dress. She… well, she's kinda cute, but god, that outfit looks expensive. It was VERY clear that she came from money, but she looked ready to fight. Wait, fight?

How did you miss that cage!? There was a large, shaking cage in the middle of class, and you could literally feel the spite and hate coming from it. Your skin starts to crawl as you understand that there was a monster near you; no metaphors, no scary stories, a literal, deadly MONSTER was locked in a cage, and this princess type was going to fight it. This school does not mess around, though you guess the whole, "fling them off a cliff thing," should have tipped you off.

You see Weiss take a breath and ready herself with a rapier sort of weapon. You see Ruby snap into focus before you, completely wired in; everyone else looks on with interest, eager to see the heiress engage. Port opens the cage and a large, sickening black void spins out. The masked absence of light resembles a boar, the kind with large, thick tusks ready to gore the woman before it, if the massive rollout didn't flatten her. You watch as Weiss dodges and jumps around, parrying the beast, looking for an opening.

You feel… something clutch in your heart. Before, you had read about Grimm. Even once you saw on for the first time, it was on a small screen, too small to capture the gravity of it. Before you, mere feet from your body, was a monster. You hear vague shouts from Ruby instructing Weiss on how to attack and angry retorts from the heiress, but that fades away as you see the red in its eyes. You keep coming back to it, but there's a physical ache in your body as you stare mindlessly at the beast that you need to learn to kill. This wasn't just some person with bad ideals, not some dog raised improperly, not the thing that goes bump in the night when you walk when it's too dark.

Monsters are real, and you are scared.

But, just like that, it was over. Weiss stood over the dissipating corpse of a boar. The inky smoke became ashen flakes flying upwards before evaporating, and with it, your fear. In less than a minute, any evidence of the creature that truly terrified you had disappeared; nothing but a panting girl with a sword provided any proof that there was any sort of threat to anyone in this room. You let your breath out, realizing you have taken in air in minutes. The clutch on your heart fades as you pause and look at your hands; you were real. THIS was real. THOSE are real.

You find your sense as everyone around you starts to stand up. Clearly, class was dismissed, but you missed the memo in your realization of what life was in Remnant. Catching your breath, you stand and blankly move on to your next class; though you recover, the rest of the day is spent with the gnawing fear in the back of your mind. You are going to school to fight monsters. You are going to learn how to fight. You are going to learn how to win.

Bravery isn't the ability to face all opposition without fear. Instead, it is the ability to stand and face all opposition despite the fear. You renew your purpose in life; you will learn to kill Grimm, you will get stronger, and you will make your new home a place where people can live without fear. You steel your resolve and decide that you will be brave. Though monsters are real, you've only seen proof that the monsters that haunt you can be killed. With training, there'd be nothing to stop you from stopping them. Any demon you face can be faced with a sword in one hand and magic rock in the other.

The school day ends. You look at your notes and see that, despite your fears, you managed to take decent notes. Port seems to be the only teacher that wasn't worth listening to, so that's good to know. Now, while you do have homework and a test or two to study for, there were far more important things to deal with. You drop by your room, change into your gear, and head to the training area.

You unsheath Synstylae (the name you decided on for your sword after looking up cool rose/sun related terms on a web browser) and become very wary of every action. Ruby was right; you do take too long unsheathing the extra long blade. Hopefully, that problem will solve itself soon once Ruby tinkers with it, but you need to be sure to account for that in case she doesn't get the chance.

You test your sword's weight in your hands once more. Though you've been training like mad for a few weeks at this point, every ounce of the red metal felt alien to you. You've become hyper-aware of exactly what you're doing now; you've seen a monster in the… was flesh even the right word? Did those… THINGS even exist? Even with all the magic rocks and super bullets, nothing could have prepared you for a Grimm; they were physical, but barely a shadow, animal, but still completely alien, alive, but not strictly living. They spat in the face of what you realize you call life. They shouldn't exist. They couldn't exist. But they did.

At the very least, you know that what you're (planning on) doing is right. Grimm WEREN'T life, that much was clear. They were a sick disease, an unliving malicious force that you needed to help eradicate. The weight of your sword paled in comparison of that, so you lifted Synstylae high in the air and struck the dummy before you; it bounced back from the blow, absorbing the massive hit while still remaining in one piece, as these dummies were made to take heavy, heavy hits. Thus far, you've only known an unmoving opponent, so you need to start thinking in 3D; the Boarbatusk was fast, even compared to Weiss as she fought it. You weren't trained to fight, let alone fight a moving opponent, so you need to catch up.

Switching things up, you start doing your best to jump around. Fighting through the quickly building strain, you take advantage of your heightened reflexes and shadow box dodging, sidestepping, rolling, pivoting, anything to make you better at not dying. You intently stare at the dummy, reacting to it coming at you as of it could actually move; you pretend it's preparing to strike, then deftly dodge out of the way… mostly.

You fall to the ground. Again. In another bid to show you that you have leagues to go, you jumped to the side to dodge an imaginary rollout, only to slip and hit the padded ground hard. Luckily, you were able to catch yourself without injury; you realize that practicing falling actually seems to be a good idea, considering you *will* take hits, and you want to avoid landing badly, or on top of your sword. If you dodge an attack just to mess yourself up, then there's not much point in dodging in the first place.

That settles it. The second you can, you need to get a sparring partner. You can play around with a dummy all day, but you're never going to really learn what it is that separates you from everyone else around you. You already know that that difference is experience; everyone In this building has no doubt faced off against a Grimm and lived to tell about it, while your heart nearly stopped upon seeing one for the first time.

Your damn Aura needs to hurry and fix you already.


	10. Chapter 10

Something feels… not quite wrong. In fact, you feel better than ever, considering what's been going on the past few days. As you swing your sword, you feel like the blade is lighter, the swings easier, the power greater. You've been in the training room since classes ended, but surely you didn't power up that fast. You've even been taking more than a few tumbles learning… how to tumble; even against an unmoving dummy, you've been practicing how to fall and roll and duck and weave.

It isn't until you heft your sword over your shoulder and take a breather that you spy your reflection in a wall mirror. You're still not quite used to seeing… whoever you are looking back at you, double for the hat covering your still alien ears, but something is different about your reflection from earlier.

"Oh, hey! Briar!" says a familiar voice from behind you. Startled, you look in the mirror and see Yang and Ruby. While Yang was in some tight-fitting workout gear, Ruby was in her usual dress and cape; you find it a bit strange, considering she was in a gym. She did wear that during orientation, though… Is that what huntresses wear? Weiss was in a skirt, too…. Whatever. Yang was dressed a bit more appropriately, wearing a sports bra and short shorts; in addition to showing off her impressive bust and shapely hips, she also highlighted her muscles. You're a fan of all of that. "Nice to see you working up a sweat on day one!" Yang said, scanning your progress.

Letting your body relax, you turn to face the sisters. "Yeah. Just… thought I might try to get ahead, seeing as I'm kinda behind and all. I imagine you're doing the same?" Looking to Ruby, you wonder, "And what are you doing?"

"I was gonna do some training too!" Ruby says, enthusiastically. "I got all pumped up watching Weiss earlier today!"

"And because she and Weiss aren't getting along~" Yang teases. Ruby pouts. "It'll be fine, sis. You'll nab her with your feminine charm one day!"

"Do you have to be so embarrassing in front of people!?" Ruby whines, tugging at her hood.

Laughing, you walk up closer to the pair. "It's fine, it's fine. Sorry you aren't getting along."

"Yeah, it's a rough start…" Yang says, looking at the ground. "Lucky you, having no team."

"But that leaves me with no training partners," you say, totally not fishing for a pity spar.

"Well…" Yang looks over at Ruby. "You said you're a total noob, right?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, I'd undoubtedly kick your ass with or without the golden girls." Yang flexes, showing off her bracelet weapons and her still surprisingly large forearms. Big boobs and a six pack worked really well, especially on a woman as body-confident as Yang… "But Ruby here needs some hand to hand training. What do you say, Rubes?"

Ruby shies back, startled. "R-right away!? And without Crescent Rose?"

"You need to learn how to not rely on one weapon. You never know where you're going to be unarmed."

"B-b-but I thought he wasn't ready to fight!"

Yang blinks. Turning to you, she cocks her head to the side. Realizing whatever was wrong, she pops up and says, "Wait! You're better!"

You raise an eyebrow. Oh, wait! She's right! You touch your hand to your face and massage the area by your eye; since your run-in with Gild and the other racists, your black eye had felt tender and painful and your bruises ached. You turn back to the mirror and see that your eye wasn't a gross purplish color! It's still a little obvious you had a black eye, but it seems your Aura is almost back to default; you're relieved to learn that you're no longer in danger of deep-seated injuries. The same went for your arm bruises; they were faded, but not gone.

"Oh, sweet! You're right! I didn't even notice!"

"See, Ruby? Your charm has cured our ailing friend!"

"Yanggg…"

"That means he's good for a spar! C'mon! He needs this! And YOU need it, too!"

"Ughhh…" Ruby whines. You imagine she won't say no to her sister in a situation like this, so she relents and hands Yang Crescent Rose.

You suddenly realize something. While Weiss' absence was explained by her and Ruby's bad relationship, that left the fourth of the group. Remembering the insanely pretty dark-haired woman, you ask, "So… uh… where's your other teammate, then?"

Yang brightens at the sound of her other teammate being mentioned. "Oh, Blake?"

Blake is a pretty name for a pretty girl…

Yang continues, "She decided she'd rather read. She's a bit worn out from yesterday, and that's totally fair." She pushes Ruby forward, sending her sister off balance until she catches herself. "Now, go on! Knock him senseless!"

"Just gimme a sec!" Ruby whines. You allow her to compose herself as you move the dummies out of the way, giving you space to spar. The ground was padded and no one else was around, so you take a fighting pose and get ready to… oh, wait, you're gonna spar with a girl half your weight and two years younger than you. Even if you win despite her training, you don't think you'll feel great about it. That said, you know Yang is lethal with her fists, so better chance it with someone less… her. Thankfully, Ruby wasn't using a weapon; Oz said she was a prodigy, so you don't think you would last a minute.

Ruby takes up an unconfident fighting stance. You toss Synstylae to Yang and take up your own; you aren't experienced in any discipline, so you pull up your dukes and lighten your feet.

Yang announces you and Ruby to start, taking a seat to watch the show. You wait until you see Ruby move before stepping in, only to find a cloud of roses where she was. You feel a tap hit your cheek as she bops you with a light punch. Aside from a small sting, you feel nothing; she was clearly toying with you. You turn to face her and find another cloud of rose petals, followed by another sting. Starting to feel an innate sense inside you, you focus on moving.

You take several more playful jabs to the face, already understanding that you were out of Ruby's league. Though, as time goes on, you're able to start parrying and blocking her attacks until she starts getting a little more serious. Ruby starts mixing things up, though you know enough about her fighting to know that she's not too skilled, either; you aren't fast enough to react, but you know that her moves have a distinct pattern. She went for one, two, three, four, repeat. Ruby also was only punching, and still playing with you. You aren't sure if that was because she was being easy, or if because that was all she knew; if Yang said she wasn't good at close combat, you think you start to understand why and how.

Putting your guard up, you start to ingrained Ruby's taunting blows. She was still going for the same few areas, and she was still acting in a pattern. Feeling her moves incoming, you start weaving out just enough to let them scrape by you, barely missing. Your body acclimated to Ruby's enhanced speed and you act; as you feel a pattern coming, you dodge out of the way and manage to grab Ruby's arm.

With most of your might, you pull Ruby off balance and shoulder check her. She gets knocked to the ground, but catches herself pretty easily. Though him would feel bad about hurting her, she looks up at you, rather impressed with what you did.

"Woah! What an upset!" Yang says, mimicking an announcer. "The crowd goes wild!" She fakes a crowd, whispering, "Ahh! Ahh!"

"That was pretty good!" Ruby says, standing up.

"No, it wasn't," Yang says, smirking. "You're just too predictable, Ruby. I could see right through you, and so could he, after a bit, at least."

"That's fair," you agree. You succeeded in letting yourself get punched until you managed to get punched right. That wasn't a long term strategy against something with claws and a friend filter on.

"I wasn't that bad!" Ruby shouted.

"You kinda were, sis. I know you were taking it easy on him, but you still need to mix it up. You didn't kick, or elbow, or anything."

"But I'm short! You have long legs and arms!"

"Which means you can duck and dive and stuff better than I can. Anyway, yeah, you're right, Redfield; you ARE new at this."

"That obvious?"

"Pretty much. Here, let's do some legit stuff." Yang wandered over to a rack of wooden approximations of weapons off to the side. She picked up a long pole analogous to your sword and tossed it to you. "I'm gonna take a stance, and you're gonna tell me what you'd do." She removed her bracelets and handed them to Ruby. "I'll pull my punches, but if you guess wrong, I'll tap you more than Ruby did."

You foresee this going poorly. Wielding the long wooden shaft like your greatsword, you ready up. Facing off against Yang, you're taken off guard by her cleavage; in her workout gear, her boobs were spilling out of the top of her sports bra. You swallow and refocus, trying to focus on how much failure would hurt. Instead, you focus on her other attractive features; unfortunately, her well-toned arms would mean that, even if she was pulling punches, her fists would hurt.

Yang takes an open stance, favoring her left leg, and puts her fists up. "Alright, Red. Whatcha got?"

Thankful Yang was letting you think about your answer, you raise your "sword" and consider. If she was leaning on her left foot, then she'd have to step to the right. Right? Unfortunately, that meant that she was on the wrong side; your sword was in your right hand, otherwise opposite of where Yang would be stepping. The large size makes it too unwieldy to swap to the other hand, so you're left with few options.

"I'm going to jump…" you say, hopping to your right/Yang's left, "…over here, and I guess I'll put up my guard." You hold your staff in front of you and brace it. From your perspective, Yang would have to pivot her entire body to get a good shot on you.

"Not terrible," Yang says with a grin. She does indeed pivot her entire body to better face you. "I would have only been able to get a quick jab in, and that would only be if you were close enough. She adjusts to be lower, balancing her feet equally. Without warning, she jumps at you, raising a fist aiming to strike.

On instinct, you flinch, but manage to shrug off Yang's punch by batting it away with your faux weapon.

"That's good! You're better at reacting, at least. Maybe putting you against somebody that's Semblance is Speed wasn't a great idea." Yang loosens up, relaxing her body. Even quicker than before, she moves in to punch you, succeeding seeing as you put your guard down.

You take a quick, painful jab to the face as Yang's fist connects. Thankfully, your newfound Aura quickly fades the pain away.

"I'll admit, that one was unfair," Yang laughs. "But you need to be prepared. No one is gonna choreograph their fighting style THAT much.

"Duly noted," you say, rubbing your cheek.

"Come on, let's go again." Yang reset her position, taking a new stance with openings. "Ruby, you be in standby to switch out. This'll be good for you, too." Ruby puts everyone's things down and sits.

You spend a good chunk of the afternoon getting your ass kicked. Yang begins to ingrain in you how humans that can move fight, teaching you how to spot a weakness in stances and prepare for surprise attacks. By the end of the day, your Aura is gone (again), but your new bruises are a small price to pay for the combat experience. You're incredibly glad you met Yang and Ruby; they make great teachers and great training partners, so you set up a few times where they can help you at hand to hand and with weapons. You feel like you'll become a proper fighter in short order. 


	11. Chapter 11

You strike at the dummy before you. Though your blow bounces off, it's only because the shields used are incredibly strong for training purposes; after all, pretty much every hunter had struck one at some point, so they were reinforced with all manner of Dusts and generators. Still, you feel like you would have cleanly cleaved it in two had it not been protected. Since class started, you've been bulking up and training to use your sword properly, trying to catch up to everyone else. After two days of proper schooling, you were beginning to start looking like a real fighter, at least against a mannequin.

"Congrats! You've graduated!" Yang says from behind, surprising you. You turn around, lowering your sword after the shock wears off. Having a hot muscly blonde walk up behind you in booty shorts helps with that. "On edge. Good in a fight, but you'll want to cool it if you're really gonna be a hunter; can't have someone so jumpy trying to save everyone!" She laughs. "Nah, just kidding. It's good you can react to surprises."

Processing everything Yang was saying, you shake your head and clear your thoughts. "I graduated? Wait, from what?"

Yang cocks her head to face the door to the training area and calls back, "Bring him in!" Smiling at you, she steps aside to make room for her entourage. Ruby walks in, followed shortly by a blonde kid you quickly remember is the leader of JNPR; you saw him fumble around during the initiation, managing to stay alive thanks to that redhead with the shield. You wonder why Yang and Ruby brought– CEREAL! That redhead girl was on the cereal boxes at the grocery store! She must be famous… Anyway, you wonder why they brought the blonde guy.

Yang looks down at your weapon and smirks. "You've graduated from stick fighting! If you wanna git gud, you need to get some real experience in you. Ruby and I are WAY too above your level, so I brought in our… I guess anti-ringer? Jaune?"

"Y-yes?" the blonde says. Jaune steps up and nods his head. Sticking out his hand, he waits for you to shake it. "I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc. I'm these two's friend."

"Briar Redfield," you say, meeting Jaune's introduction. "Same." Turning to Yang, you ask, "so we're going to be using our weapons? Like, actual weapons?" You look over at the rack of sticks on the wall; thus far, you've been getting smacked by Ruby and a long staff wielded sort of like a scythe.

"Yeah. Jaune here is… well, to be frank," Yang starts. You see Jaune hang his head, acknowledging what was coming. "He's not much better than you at fighting. That's why I've taken it upon myself to educate you two!"

"Hey, I'm here!" Ruby whines, shaking her arms.

"That's why WE'VE taken it upon OURSELVES to educate you two!" Yang corrects. "You aren't good enough to kill each other, so it ought to be decent practice. Your Aura is just about done, isn't it?"

You turn to a mirror. Though your Aura feels alright, you still are pretty scratched up from your scuffle the other day. You still have the remains of a black eye, though another day or two and you'd be back to normal. "I don't have time to waste, so I guess so."

"What DID happen?" says an unfamiliar voice. "I've been meaning to ask." From behind Jaune walks… her. The dark-haired girl– Blake, as you learned yesterday– steps out, putting a bookmark between two pages of a novel. Her motions were weightless, her step as quiet and subtle as breathing. "Yang mentioned that she spent most of yesterday with an, 'Eye Guy.' She made it sound like you were a cyclops." She puts on a self-satisfied smile, glancing towards the blonde.

After remembering to breathe, you glare at Yang. With a toothy smile, she shrugs. Facing Blake, you extend a hand and say, "Briar Redfield. You're… Blake, right?"

Blake grabs your hand and shakes it. "Belladonna, yes." Her hands are much rougher than expected, especially compared to Yang's surprisingly delicate fingers. You figure she was calloused from wielding a weapon; her lean arms were on display in her sleeveless black and white top, though they were also wrapped in ribbons. Her eyes were a piercing golden, contrasting brilliantly with her jet-black hair and soft, olive skin. Upon her head was an adorable bow, keeping her hair long and straight as it flowed down her back.

A bit nervously, you scratch the back of your head and answer how you ended up so hurt. "I got mugged. Took a wrong turn downtown and ran into some ra–" You remember that people aren't too kind to Faunus and that everyone before didn't know you were one. "–Some random gang members or something." Blake looks at the bruises and scratches on your arms, still not healed thanks to whatever your Aura was preoccupied with at the moment. Her eyes turn to your black eye, then up to your beanie. She raises an eyebrow.

"I thought you were in a crash?" Yang asks. "Is that why you're all messed up?"

"No, no, that happened too." Though you were covering for… well, you still don't know, but you imagine whatever put you in that crater was a crash of some kind. You aren't TOTALLY lying, and you did get mugged, if for race reasons rather than money. "Both happened."

"Well, you're a lucky one, aren't you?" Blake teases.

"Yeah," Yang snorts. "What black cat crossed your path?"

You suddenly feel aware of your blonde hair and cat ears. Well, you aren't a *black* cat… You should really figure out what kind of cat Faunus you are. You don't know if there are any tests for that.

"I'd consider my self lucky enough. Though I could do with a spot of something good happening."

"What, are we not the best thing that's ever happened to you?" Yang teases. "We brought you a punching bag and everything!"

"Hey!" Jaune yells. Yang raises an eyebrow, prompting to admit that he was lacking in skills.

"Meeting all of you…" you start, lingering a little bit on Blake. "That has been pretty nice, especially after being alone the past few weeks." Any company other than Ozpin was appreciated, and Glynda didn't exactly mesh well with a kid like you, so being surrounded by people your age was great. "So, you good to fight?" you ask Jaune.

Jaune pulls a sword out of a sheath and readies it. "Almost!" Grabbing his sheath, he flips it out to a shield. Huh, no gun? You thought you were alone in that. "Want to start?"

Everyone backs off as you nod. Ruby, Yang, and Blake take seats around a mock ring while you and Jaune get into position. You remove Synstylae from its sheath, acutely aware of how long it is and how bad that would be to get caught up with in a real fight. Hopefully Ruby would be able to mod it soon. Focusing your back-and-forth Aura towards your hands, you lift the sword and point it at Jaune. You're suddenly aware that this was a scenario in which you could theoretically severely harm him, or him you. You let out a strained breath and focus, knowing you can't be too careful. Though he didn't seem like an amazing fighter, Jaune had gone through initiation, and you saw him backing up his team fighting a large scorpion Grimm. He had actual experience, which put him above you.

"Okay, okay!" Yang calls. "Just duke it out for a bit. We can grade you and step in if we really need to, but just go all out." She, Ruby, and Blake relax and monitor you and Jaune's stances. "3, 2, 1, go!"

You and Jaune spend your first moments facing off, carefully analyzing each other's movements. Your combat senses, though limited, knew that he had a shield and a short sword; he could swing faster and also block easier. Your weapon is oversized, better for fighting big monsters and not humans. As such, you reach the conclusion that you should attack first, otherwise you would have to maneuver your 6ft sword to block quick strikes.

You take your sword and lower it, aiming to swing towards Jaune's sword arm. If you strike the other side, he could easily block it with his shield, and you'd be better attacking where he'd have to sacrifice attacking for defending. You let your momentum move your sword in a large arc, your blade aiming for Jaune's midsection. Jaune reacts by twisting his torso to block with his shield; though he blocks your sword, the weight of the strike knocks him off-balance, letting you follow up by shoulder checking him.

Jaune is sent sprawling backward, letting you take another wide swing. You get a decent hit on him, causing his Aura to flicker, but he quickly recovers. Taking up a phalanx stance, he starts stepping forward, blocking with his shield and aiming to stab with his sword. You start circling around his shield, not letting his sword arm get a good angle.

You realize that you are full of holes. You can't swing your massive sword without completely opening yourself up; it takes both hands to wield with any sort of efficiency, so Jaune would no doubt be able to counter that. You can't attack without leaving yourself open, so you can't attack. This leaves you in a stalemate until Jaune stabs at you. Once again, your oversized weapon means you can barely maneuver it in such a way to block, even then moving a direct shot to a glancing blow; you feel Jaune's sword slash at your Aura, wearing your guard.

Your dance continues for several minutes, mostly as a defense game. You and Jaune trade blows mostly equally, though his maneuverability trumps out, earning him the victory. The blonde throws caution to the wind, slamming one of your blows away with his shield and leaving you wide open for a head-on attack. You feel a heavy hit carve away your Aura, almost shattering it. Luckily, it lasts, but a sword to the stomach still knock all the wind out of your lungs.

"That ought to be good, boys!" Yang calls out, preventing you from any lasting damage. "Don't want to give him MORE black eyes." She and her team rise and circle the ring, resting on the ropes.

Panting, you plant your sword on the ground and prop yourself up. Jaune relaxes his guard and sheaths his sword, folding his shield back to a manageable size. You hop out of the ring and await your scores.

"Ruby, why do you start?" Yang says.

Though clearly shy about revealing your weaknesses, Ruby nods. "Uhh… Jaune!" Jaune nods. "You're already better than in initiation. You're learning to change strategies on the fly, which is good. Keeping your shield up is never a bad idea, especially against a larger weapon, but be careful."

"Yeah," Yang adds. "Sure you can block it, but any bigger and guarding might take out your arm. If he swung just a bit heavier, he could break your shield, your arm, whatever."

"Yeah, that. Also, you need to be lighter. You're not moving enough, but you're swinging a bit wildly."

Jaune nods.

"Pretty much," Blake says. "I guess I can add that you're relying on your shield. Best to not get hit at all than take hits, but you could do with a bit more dodging."

"As for you, Briar," Yang starts. "Seeing you use the real thing, I don't think that weapon is suited to you." You nod. Your weapon definitely wasn't suited to a one on one duel, especially if Jaune were more agile. "It's clunky."

"Definitely. If I were in the ring," Blake says, "I'd be all over you. I'm a bit more speed-focused that Jaune, so I'd take advantage of your wide swings and slow pullbacks." She mimics using a dual sword style to attack, which are way to fast to react to. "How long have you been using that?"

"Not long," you say. You've been training with your greatsword, but a dummy was way different than actual combat. You look at Ruby and ask, "You said you'd be down to you with it, right? I'd like to have it be a lot shorter so I can move it easier. Could you do that?"

Ruby glows up like a floodlight. "Oh, oh! I've been thinking about it all day! I should be able to mess with it tomorrow! I know the perfect way to shrink it down so it's easier to use."

"That sounds great!"

Blake giggles in an insanely cute tone. "Good for you! You get a second chance to impress me. Though, Yang made it sound like you barely knew how to walk; glad to see you can keep up with somebody!"

You glare at Yang. "Hey! I said he was a novice! That's all!"

"Yang has such a way of describing things," Blake muses. "And of that's where we're going to call it, I should be doing some training of my own. Yang?"

"Woo! Catfight!" Yang says, hopping into the ring. You jump a little at the mention of cats.

You take a seat and spend the next while watching Blake and Yang spar. Blake wielded an amalgam sword, kusarigama, cleaver, and pistol in the craziest combo you've seen yet, and boy did she wield it with grace. Yang went in at her with severe punches, but she deftly danced around them with a shadow's grace. You see the two girls fight at a level much higher than your own, captivating you with their skills. You also enjoy the sight of two beautiful girls with soft skin and tight bodies, which is also a step up from a gangly noodle boy. You pick up as much as you can, eagerly awaiting Synstylae V2.


	12. Chapter 12

"So, you ready?" you ask, presenting Ruby with your sword.

"Heck yeah, I am! I've been wanting to play with other weapons since I GOT here!" The tiny tinker eagerly accepts your sword and places it onto a workbench. Reaching into a pair of thick gray overalls, she withdraws a screwdriver and a magnifying glass. Immediately, she begins inspecting everything about your Synstylae close-up, going over every inch of treated steel.

"Well?"

"Hmm… Looking at it closely, I should still be able to make it shorter and add some stuff, but maybe not everything. Some extra bits might mess with the balance, and it's already off as it is… Give me some time and I'll make it just right for a guy like you!"

"Alright, thanks!" you say, watching Ruby get to work. Luckily, she seems to forget that you're even there, allowing her to work diligently without her social anxiety kicking in. If there was one thing about Ruby that you knew, it was that she had trouble being watched like this, but you guess tinkering was the one thing she threw herself into.

You spend some time watching Ruby screw, unscrew, hammer, and tink away at your weapon. Though she was happy to do it alone, you feel you better watch just so you wouldn't be left completely blank when you did your own tinkering; you hope to be a good huntsman one day, so proper weapon maintenance was on your list of things to learn.

Though Ruby kept pulling out all sorts of foreign contraptions you don't recognize, you pick up the basics of tinkering with weapons. It helps that you have a comparatively simple sword to her intricate scythe, but you learn how to pull it apart and piece it together, at least. You didn't need to do much maintenance wise, considering it was just a slab of steel with a trigger, but Ruby goes over the slightest mechanisms over and over again, figuring it all out.

Over the course of an hour or so, you watch Ruby take your sword apart. She manages to separate blade from hilt from mechanisms from ports with a few deft touches, gliding over the metal and bindings without a second thought. It's only when she starts putting things into different things that you start to lose it; you can tell sword from the scabbard, but Ruby starts throwing in things with engines and model numbers and sequences until it's a bunch of mechanical gibberish. The real surprise doesn't come until she grabs the long red blade and takes it over to some form of tool in the workshop. After a few measurements, she places it in a vice and gets to work.

Without so much as a word, Ruby uses the workshop tool to somehow slice your blade almost in two. You feel like that was kind of a big deal, considering that she just broke the sword essentially, but she immediately takes the point-end and puts it to an automated grindstone. You watch, too stunned to ask what her plan was, leaving the expert to her work. Thousands of sparks fly from the flame Dust-treated blade as the sander sloughs of bits of metal, collected into a neat pile via a slot system.

When your sword blade's top half reaches whatever threshold Ruby wanted it to reach, she takes the bottom half of the blade and finds another tool. She compares the size of the two halves, marks the overlap, and activates the tool, which begins hollowing out the bottom half of the blade. A few minutes later, and Ruby presents you with your new blade, the top half resting inside the bottom; it's far shorter than previously, but she also demonstrates how it would extend to just shy of the full length it was after she puts in a mechanism.

"And once I add in this…" Ruby says, showing you some sort of track that can slide up and down, "It can extend with a new trigger. I'm pretty much going to have to modify the handle completely so it can support it, so would you mind gathering the shaved metal please?"

You nod as Ruby gets to work installing the slide track onto your extending blade. She instructs you to place the Dust-steel shavings into another tool, which begins heating up to melt them. By the time she finishes the extending track and mechanism, you have a small cylindrical ingot of treated metal to repurpose. Ruby instructs you to place it into a lathe, which further refines it into a spike.

"Okay, and now I'm almost done with the handle…" Ruby says, holding up the sun-themed guard of your previous handle. She installs something or other into it, then attaches it to the blade "Gimme the pommel." After you hand her the red spike, she bores a hole into it, then attaches it to the bottom of a cylinder. "And… one more thing…" Ruby takes the spiked cylinder and attaches it to a matching piece, which she then screws and nails into the handle. "Done!"

"Really?" you ask, surprised weapons were so… modular. Ruby wasn't so much making changes to a weapon so much as installing new software. Everything was easily swapped out, and you didn't have to touch any settings on the workshop machines, so the weapons here must be made to be customized to the nth degree, and standardized to some degree.

"Yup! Go ahead and try!" Ruby hands you your newly improved blade. "I couldn't put in everything because it would ruin the balance, but you should be able to do a lot more with it!"

Immediately, you feel that your sword is lighter. Quite a bit of the blade had been removed so it could be compacted, but it was still a pretty heavy item. The shorter size of the blade made it so much easier to swing around, especially with one hand; a few practice swings already let you know that you're much, much faster than swinging the two-handed version. As if on cue, Ruby instructs you to, "Pull the bigger trigger!" Once you do, the blade top shoots out of the bottom half, doubling the length of the weapon to a more familiar great sword size with an accompaniment of sparks

"Woah," you exclaim as you suddenly have your great sword back with a powerful click. You feel the weight of your weapon focus towards the top half of the sword, meaning that this form was now well-suited to heavy, arcing swings that would carry all the weight to a powerful cleave. You pull the trigger again, causing the blade to slide back into itself, returning it to a manageable length. "That's awesome!"

"Yup!" Ruby says, bouncing. "The weight will be a bit different than what you're used to, but you're still used to a great sword, so you still have access to it! Plus, you can swap mid-strike, too!"

You swing a few times in the short sword mode, then do an overhead strike, pulling the trigger partway through. The blade extends, the extra weight and momentum easily enough to break a defense or carve a monster.

"Oh, oh, pull the other trigger!"

You happily oblige Ruby and flick the other trigger. The handle shoots out with a significant force, doubling the length of it. It's now far easier to wield two-handed, and the spike Ruby added would make an excellent captive-bolt style driver. You start doing more practice swings, switching in an out of the one-handed and two-handed modes of your sword. It immediately feels a bit more natural, especially now that the sword can be moved easily with just one hand; you're significantly faster, but you keep your heavier striking ability with the extending blade.

And of course…

You pull the third and final trigger, wreathing your blade in flame. You've gotten used to the heat from battle, and you notice nothing is lost in the transition to a trick weapon. The flames coat the blade in both forms, greatly increasing your capabilities in a battle.

With a final few swings, you return your sword to its compacted form. Instinctively, you motion to put it back into its sheath, but remember that it was in the table, not your back.

"It's okay! I do that all the time training," Ruby reassures. "I still need to mod your sheath. It won't be able to do anything, but making it fit the smaller form would allow you to wear it in your hip, which is a bit easier to draw."

"That sounds great!" You test putting your sword away at your side rather than your back. It's immediately apparent that doing so would allow you to draw faster, and the shorter sword length would prevent you from having to put too much effort into retrieving it. "Everything seems improved! Thanks so much!"

"Aww, it was nothing…" Ruby says, shuffling in her step. She grabs her hood and covers her blushing face with it. "I just knew you needed the help, so…"

"No, really, Ruby. I can't wait to have another go at training."

"Well, I'm glad I can help! You'll catch up to Yang in no time!"

"You're no slouch, either. I'll aim for Jaune at the moment, then set my sights on the experts."

Ruby hides in her hood again, unused to taking compliments.

You smile at Ruby, hoping to help her get over this sort of thing. She was far too shy for someone as skilled as her at being a huntress; even in the brief times you've seen her fight, she was already leagues better than most of the other students, even ignoring you and Jaune. Heck, her, Yang, and Weiss all seemed a step above. You haven't seen much of Blake (something you hope to fix), but you imagine she's pretty good herself, and her skill with such a complex weapon was unparalleled.

After a breath, Ruby calms down a bit. Even though her cheeks are still a bit flushed, she asks, "So, while you're here… You said you weren't very good at weapon maintenance, right?"

You look dejectedly at the floor. So far, you've been coasting on the fact that your weapon was limited in its complexity, being A Big Sword and nothing else. Your only maintenance up until this point was sharpening it and making the igniter could pull. "I'm not. And now that I have a lot more to go over…"

"Come here, I can help you out. I needed to work on Crescent Rose, so you can watch me do a bit of work and then I can help you with yours."

"That'd be great." You walk over to Ruby, who hefts her shockingly heavy scythe onto the workbench. Gods, even though you've felt the power boost Aura gives you and felt how easy it was to swing your great sword with it, Ruby's weapon looked like it weighed as much as her. Though she was maybe 5' tall, a hundred pounds was a hundred pounds, and judging from the sound her weapon made when it impacted the bench, it was minimum enough to shatter bone if dropped on a foot. How she held it at all was astounding. Her Aura control must be incredible!

"Okay!" Ruby says, grabbing a chair and scooting up surprisingly close to you. It seems she forgets a lot of her shyness when she's working, as you're now basically rubbing elbows with her as she starts explaining her mechanisms. "So this is the firing mechanism. It activates via this trigger here, which…"

You spend the next while watching Ruby disassemble and reassemble her weapon, pointing out all the complex stuff going on inside of it. She's a surprisingly good teacher, as she quickly skips over the more complicated, customized mechanisms she added while slowly going over the basic stuff in pretty clear wording. You easily start to put names to plates and actions to triggers, and quickly catch on to the things going on in Synstylae. You leave the workshop with a pretty good grasp on how to tear apart your weapon and fix it, plus keep it from jamming and stuff like that. You're very, very thankful that such a complex thing about this work could be put into words you understand. You thank Ruby, but not after Yang drops in to remind you that you owe the two dinner; it's a small price to pay for such an in-depth lesson, and Yang even went out of her way to shadowbox with you, so it ought to even out.


	13. Chapter 13

"I mean, if you're going to learn how to fight good, you need to have a decent meal beforehand!"

"I don't think Old MacDonald's qualifies as a decent meal, Yang."

"Nonsense! I've never heard you speak so offensively." The blonde giggles. "Such filthy language~" she teases. She looks at you with a flirty smile. Yang had come in following Ruby's weapon maintenance lesson to collect on her fee but was enjoying her time toying with her sister beforehand.

"Yang!" Ruby shouts. "Do you ALWAYS have to be like that?"

"It's a sister's job, isn't it? Gotta make sure you aren't too cool; don't want you ending up with as big a head as Weiss."

"She'll hear you! And then she'll get angry at ME!" Ruby whines as she puts away most of her weapon tinkering tools.

"I'm sure it's fine. It's not as if talking about your teammate is going to make her MAGICALLY need to tune up her weapon! That'd just be too cruel."

"Consider her half-right and the world half-cruel," a voice says from the door. With that quiet, all-knowing smile, Blake walks in through the door, not a sound indicating her presence before she announced it.

"Eep!" Ruby jumps in response to Blake's entry.

"Oh, hi Blake!" Yang calmly states in response to Blake's entry.

"Hello," you wave in response to Blake's entry.

"Calm down, Ruby," Blake assures. "Weiss isn't with me, so she won't get the chance to be angry over nothing."

Ruby takes a long breath. "That's good…"

"Is it?" you ask. "You need to make up with her if you're going to be a team, you know."

"But that can come later!" Yang says, a triumph in her voice. "Trust me, knowing her, she'd only get angrier if Ruby tried to invite her to eat at a," she gasps, in fake horror, "FAST FOOD RESTAURANT! Dun dun duuunnn! AND one she's not even paying for," she adds, mimicking something that can be construed as dramatic lightning with her fingers.

Blake stares somewhat blankly at Yang. She looks at Ruby, still somewhat recovering from her spook. She decides to turn to you to ask, "I'm sorry, what's going on?"

You hold up your newly improved weapon and respond, "Ruby gave me an upgrade! As payment, I'm paying for dinner."

Blake accepts this at first, but her golden eyes shift to Yang. With a raised eyebrow, she asks, "Both of them?"

"Middleman fee!" Yang declares. "And, well, I HAVE been giving him combat lessons."

"So has Jaune." Blake smirks. "If that counts…"

"But Jaune isn't a cute blonde!" Yang says, making a heart with her hands.

"Ouch. He's not THAT bad."

"What, you have a thing for blondes?" Yang flirts, raising her eyebrow to match Blake's. You tilt your eyes up to look at your own blonde hair as Blake huffs, not denying the statement.

"What Jaune doesn't know saves me money," you say, making light of the situation. You do need to watch your money considering you have… almost none. Job or no, you have no sort of nest egg of any kind. "But yeah, we're about to go to Old MacDonald's." You're glad to know that cheaply made, high calorie, toy-in-kiddie-meal places still exist in Remnant. Cheap food will always be a vice. Finding an excuse to spend more time with Blake, you say, "You're welcome to come along if you'd want."

"That's a great idea!" Ruby says. "We can hang out downtown and look at shops and get ice cream! And be a team!"

"Minus Weiss, plus Briar~" Yang teases.

"Minus Weiss, plus Briar," Ruby repeats, rather unenthusiastic.

"Well, I can't say no now, can I? Captain's orders," Blake giggles. As Ruby lights up, she adds, "I can pay for myself. Though I would be up for helping you test your new weapon later. I respect my friends enough to not charge for things."

"Hey, Ruby is technically charging him…"

"Weapon maintenance is a fine craft, unlike a simple spar."

"Tell that to my dad."

"You buy ME dinner first, flirt." Blake smirks as Yang's confidence wobbles. She knew how to talk around her perfectly, even this early on, plus could see right through her crush. That meant she's probably able to sense that you have an interest in her as well, though Yang isn't exactly shy about her feelings. "I've been craving Old MacDonald's since…" Blake makes a noticeable pause. "Well, a while. Cheap is good."

"I'll raise a paper cup to that," Yang says, mimicking raising a glass. "Come on, let's go."

After you and Ruby out your things away, the four of you head out and catch a bus to downtown Vale. Though there were closer places, the heart of downtown was alive with the bustle of… well, a heart of downtown, so there was plenty to do. You follow Blake, who seems to know her way around town quite well, pointing out all sorts of hole in the wall places. It occurs to you she never actually mentioned where she was from, but you feel she wouldn't tell anyway. That mysterious air around Blake makes you think she keeps a fair share of secrets.

You all enter the gaudily white fast food joint and take your orders. You pay for Yang's Monster Mac and Ruby's nuggets and grab something for yourself as well. You think back to when Ozpin gave you some money and your best way to measure what was worth what was a quick meal. Consistency in price in junk food is another universal constant, you guess. Blake gets a fish sandwich and an iced coffee for herself, and soon enough you're all munching away in a crowded booth. The atmosphere was warm and the food was good, especially after subpar cafeteria food that had been your last few days.

You stare at Blake sip her coffee as she herself stares at Ruby playing with the kid's toy that had come with her meal. Eventually, she just starts giggling at the absurdity, infecting you as well.

"What's so funny?" Ruby asks, unaware that a trained Grimm-hunter playing with a cheap plastic rabbit farmer was quite hilarious. Adding on to the disparity was the fact that she also had a bottle of chocolate milk with her food. The child-at-heart looked confusedly at Blake, wondering what was causing her to laugh.

"Nothing," Blake lies. "Ok, something. I just think it's hilarious that my team leader can entertain herself by playing with a Pumpkin Pete toy." She takes the rabbit from the table and inspects it. "It can't even articulate."

"It's not funny!" Ruby whines. "And it's a kiddie toy! Don't expect it to transform like my scythe! Which, I'll have you know, has 36 points of articulation." Ruby's tone reminded you of another woman of short stature.

Yang confirms your assumption and says, "Wow, that was the most Weiss thing I've ever heard you say." When Ruby jumps and tries to object, Yang covers her mouth preemptively and says, "No, that's a good thing! You can both over-explain pointless information! You have something in common!"

"Now if only Weiss had your pleasant demeanor," Blake says, stirring her coffee and staring at Pumpkin Pete. "Then we'd have some unity."

"3 outta 4 ain't bad. We could have had CARDIN on our team, after all. Weiss at least has potential."

"God, if I want on a team with that racist, scum-sucking, bigoted…" Blake trails off before taking a breath. With a bored tone, she fantasizes about, "Oh, no. Student found killed by Grimm. Strangely, the Grimm's claws left a distinct kusarigama-esque pattern."

As someone who knows about Cardin purely based on the fact that he can't go a day without saying something racist against Faunus, you don't have high opinions of him. Considering if he knew what was under your hat, then he'd treat you like a dumb beast, you feel no sympathy towards him in Blake's story.

"How IS Weiss going? I… never see you with her outside of class."

Ruby starts whining. Yang answers, "Honestly, better than we let on. The other day, she even apologized. She's still… rough."

"And still makes comments about Faunus I don't quite agree with. In her case, it's a bit more ignorance, at least," Blake adds. "We'll wear her down eventually, she lived a charmed life and it shows. I can forgive her for that."

"That's good at least."

"And what about you? How's life without a team?"

"Still awesome. Having my own room still rocks."

"I bet it does," Yang says, snickering. Looking over, you see her miming jacking off. "Hopefully you find yourself a girl before anyone else moves in. It'd be hard to get to business otherwise~"

"Yanggggg," Ruby says, slapping at her sister. "Stop talking like that! You know dad hates it!"

"And dad isn't here! It's fun to joke around."

"I don't mind much," you say, glossing over the fact that being a single 20(?) something with his own living space did mean quality alone time. "A couple of dumb jokes don't bother me."

"Just wait until I roll out the good ones!" Yang laughs.

"Anywayyy…" Blake leads. "Any idea when you plan on… I guess you're a stand-in? How will you be going forward?"

"The plan is I act as a fifth member to whatever team needs the help. After I get a bit better at fighting and all."

"Well, you aren't much worse than Jaune…" Ruby says before realizing she came across wrong. "I mean… I'm sure with your weapon upgrades you'll already be better!"

"I am looking forward to trying that out. That sword was way too big for me."

"Again, I'd be happy to help out later. I'll provide a much better challenge than Jaune. Maybe you'll magically be a little amazing?" Blake sips her coffee and smiles as you feel your throat tighten. You feel like she's messing with you in some way, but you also like it. "Right hand, wrong tool and all."

"Speaking of tools, I should quote unquote spar with Cardin. Maybe quote unquote accidentally shoot him in the knees a few times."

"If you keep talking like that, I'm not sure if can continue to control myself," Blake jokes. "I'm getting all tingly."

Yang rests her head on her hand and smiles. Winking, she asks, "So I'm winning you over now, am I?"

Ruby opens her mouth to interject, but realizes she won't get anywhere. You watch with interest (and a little jealousy) as Blake giggles at Yang's antics. If nothing else, you're learning that Yang is definitely bisexual, while Blake potentially is.

"I won't accept sweet nothings. Destroy Cardin's pride and I might just give you a peck on the cheek, my shining white knight."

Yang outs on a fake manly voice and says, "I shall serve under your name for all times, my lady. I swear on my honor that I shall dash this cretin of the realms."

Blake sips her coffee before saying, "Anddd, consider my offer rescinded. I couldn't take the voice."

"I'm still gonna do it."

"Can I get in on this?" you ask. "I'd be down for kicking racist ass."

"Sadly, no," Yang says, sulking. "For as ass-hatty a person as he is, Cardin is decent at fighting from what I've seen. Sure *I* could take him, but you're going to have to shape up good before you play hero." She finishes off her soda and peeks at the door. "Actually, why don't we head out, grab some ice cream, and get to some training? Then we can show Cardin that there are good humans in the world."

"Y-yeah," you say, covering for the fact that you weren't human. You try to pass off your stutter by taking a sip of your drink and coughing to clear your throat. "I'm good if you guys are."


	14. Chapter 14

You watch Ruby eagerly await her ice cream as the server scoops up a large amount of chocolate chip cookie dough. You still think it's kind of hilarious that a girl fit to lead Team RWBY is bouncing up and down awaiting her treat like an enthusiastic child. As she snatches it out of the server's hands with a rushed thank you, she flits over to a table in a swarm of rose petals and begins licking it as if her life depended on it.

Yang is a bit more not a child about buying her sherbet cone, nodding at the server and joining her sister. You and Blake are still unsure of what flavor you want, so you let a small family of horned individuals go ahead of you.

As you wait in line, peering over the counter to decide on an ice cream flavor, you hear, "So, are you planning on telling them?" from beside you. You look at Blake and pause. You let, "Wha-" escape before you jump back. There are few things she could mean other than-

"That you're a Faunus." Blake no sells her bomb drop, continuing to look forward and pick her ice cream. There'd be no way that she would come across as revealing a secret without being next to her.

Considering she was already certain, you turn away from Blake and say, "That obvious?" You let your posture sink a bit, mostly out of annoyance with yourself. Sure, Blake was a friend, but you've still only spent a few hours hanging around with her; it was too early to be slipping up and letting people figure it out.

"Don't worry, they haven't figured it out," Blake states in a far too casual manner. "I doubt they will. I'm just too attentive. That, and you turned a shade paler when you implied you were human."

"I mean, I know that they're cool, but it's just… well… People aren't always that cool." You unintentionally reach up and touch your face, where a gang of racist bullies had beaten you black and blue. "It's… It's best to be a little careful."

Blake notices your movements. "That's… oh, your eye. I… think I understand."

"Yeah, it wasn't a mugging in the strictest sense."

"I'm sorry…" Blake says, putting a hand on your shoulder, though still avoiding looking at you. It's clear she doesn't want to make anything too obvious to Yang and Ruby. "I wish the world was more forgiving. It's not fair that such a stupid thing makes you a target." She takes her hand off and relaxes her stressed shoulders. "I won't tell them. You'll have to at some point, though. Seems wrong otherwise."

"Yeah, I know."

"I don't know what you are, though. That means you doing something right in hiding. I just know you have ears."

"A cat," you admit.

Blake breaks her uninterested facade and turns to you. You see her almost jump for a moment before she says, "Oh… What kind?"

You blank. You… don't actually know what kind of cat you are. You recognize that your ears are from a common house cat, not like a tiger or anything, but that still leaves a lot. You're blonde and your ears are the same color… What breed are yellow cats?

"Do you not know?" Blake asks, seeing you struggle to think. She seems rightfully confused. It does seem a bit weird to not know your own species, but everyone else had their lives and families to figure it out. You had a month and a black eye to tell you not to let others pry into fitting it out.

"M-must have forgotten. Just your average everyday… Tabby," you say, figuring tabby cats covered multiple colors. Thinking not-quickly, you say, "Crash probably knocked it out of me."

"Ah. Sorry."

"No, it's fi–"

"Step forward, you'll look like you're not ordering ice cream."

"Right!" you say, following Blake's instructions. The last of the Faunus family had received their ice cream, so you meet the server as they return to standing in from of you. You order your ice cream, then step aside and wait for Blake to receive her cream flavored cone before sitting down.

"Bout time," Yang jokes, finishing the last of her ice cream before moving onto her come. She motions to Ruby, who had devoured her treat almost immediately. The younger sister was now staring at a fridge full of ice cream cartons and cake, drooling. "Nice of you to let other people go first, but you've committed the cardinal sin of making me wait."

"And I'm sure you'll suffer," Blake says, smirking. Looking at the oblivious Ruby, she adds, "She's the one suffering. A shame we don't have a decent freezer."

"We do, but it doesn't have a lock or anything. I've already lost a frozen pizza to the masses."

"Yeah," you say, disappointed. "I had the whole fridge to myself before everyone showed up. That was pretty cool."

"Tch," Yang scoffs. "I had to share with Sweet Tooth over here and an old man obsessed with sandwiches. Dad never was much good at cooking." She pops in the remnants of her cone and asks, "So, you'd probably know better than me, Blake, but was that a family of goats?" in reference to the Faunus family that went before you in line.

"Sheep. The father had ram horns that he shared with his son, and the mother had the ears, same with the daughter." Blake looks at Yang quizzically. "Why do you ask?"

"Eh, just never been that good at identifying Faunus. We didn't see a lot until we got to Beacon, so I've been trying to learn more."

"Well, that's very kind of you. It IS important to not mis-breed someone. It's qui– I hear it's quite offensive."

"Yeah, I'm trying to figure it out. There are a million animal hybrids out there, so gotta place them right." Yang glances at you. "What about you? Blake here is kind of a saint when it comes to Faunus rights and stuff, but can you tell what animal a Faunus is mixed with?"

"I'm not a saint, Yang. I'm just well informed."

"Eh, small difference." Yang turns back to you. You wish she'd forgotten in the two seconds since she asked.

"Not really. I'm super bad at remembering that kind of stuff. Plus, traits can appear anywhere, right? So, like, a guy can have wool instead of hair or something, right?"

"Wouldn't the mix appear where it is on the animal?" Yang asks. "Like, wool is on the body and head, so would they have like a coat of wool?"

"It's not impossible for traits to manifest in unique ways," Blake explains. She pauses for a moment before revealing, "I've heard of a man that has full sized bat wings; however, he has his human arms as well. Science would say that the wings would replace the arms, but maybe it's a mutation? Then again, a common trait is having ears, but…" Blake glances subtly at you, "…a lot have both their Faunus ears and regular ears, which doesn't line up."

"Dammit. I thought I was starting to get it…" Yang huffs. "I never thought about having two sets of ears."

"That upperclassmen Velvet girl has two," Ruby says, back in the conversation. "The one Cardin bullies. She has rabbit ears, but also normal ones."

"Must be weird having them. Do you like, hear twice as good? Or would that get too loud?"

"Better," Blake states. "They're born with them, so I imagine they just adapt to the volume level early on, but rabbit ears are designed to hear. They have to have better hearing."

"That makes sense," you say, remembering when you first woke up. At first, having a second pair of more sensitive ears was painful seeing as you hadn't adapted to them, but now it's normal to hear someone from down the hall. You've learned to tune to hear the right things the way you remember hearing them.

"And we talked in class about how some have night vision because cat species see in the dark, and other animals for that matter."

"Night vision would be pretty cool…" Yang says. She glances out the window into the dark street, only a holographic lamp to light it up. "Hey, if you guys were Faunus, what kind of like, trait would you want? What kind would you be?"

You find it hard to catch your breath. For not knowing that you were a Faunus, Yang sure said a lot to make you really nervous that she did.

"A sloth," Blake says, smirking. "I would be a sloth. My trait would be that I sleep all day."

"That's boring," Ruby says. "You don't want something exciting?"

"It's not a choice, you know. Faunus don't get to decide what they are, nor what they get."

"Yeah, I know…" Ruby looks sorry for unintentionally offending Faunus. "Just, it'd be neat to have a cool thing not many people could do, no matter what."

"I really don't get how Cardin thinks Faunus are like, SUPER inferior when you can be born with claws," Yang says. "Like, I can THEORETICALLY understand, 'hurr durr dumb as an animal,' but like, Faunus can end up with some cool stuff. Course he's just a moron no matter what."

You never figured out why Faunus were considered inferior when there were some that were de-facto better than humans with their gills, skin-changing, and bear strength. You nod, glad that Yang and Ruby don't think of Faunus as inferior.

Blake calmly eats her ice cream. "Some people are just morons. Discrimination runs deep." Wanting to break away from the negativity, she looks at Yang and asks, "I'm sure you have an idea of what you'd want?"

"A dragon!" Yang says. She holds up her hands like claws and mines breathing fire.

Staring at her teammate, Blake says, "…you know that's not a thing, right?" Putting down her ice cream, she says, "Like, what, does Ruby want to be a unicorn Faunus?"

"No! I want to be an owl!"

"An owl?"

"Yeah, I could do that thing where they turn their heads around and have super eyes! It'd be awesome for a sniper!"

"Huh," Blake says. "That's more well thought out that I expected from you."

"See!? I can think and play with dumb toys!" Ruby says, pulling out the toy she'd gotten from Old MacDonald's. "I'm not JUST a kid!"

"Only mostly just a kid," Yang teases. "Nah, but a dragon would be sick. In actuality… probably like, a bat or something. I'd want wings! Flying would be so sick! Oh, oh, how about like a dove or a swan? I'd make a hell of an angel with swan wings!"

"That… DOES sound like it'd be attractive…" Blake says, looking off into the sky. You also appreciate the visual of a hot blonde with amazing abs, a rocking bod, and freaking angel wings. Wings would also prevent Yang from wearing normal clothes, leaving her with a lot of backless outfits~

Before you start considering that most angels are depicted as being nude or in very little clothes, you turn back to Yang just as she says, "Bat or swan. Be careful, I can be ur angle or ur devol~" She laughs at her meme and finishes by saying, "But yeah, PUNCH ANGEL."

"That just leaves you, Briar," Blake says, turning to smile at you. She was playing with you now that she knows you are a Faunus. "What would you be a hybrid of?"

You consider your options. You think that already being a house cat isn't the WORST hybrid you could be, but there's far better. Your only plus is some improved hearing, and that was honestly a bit of a pain before you controlled it. "Something… cool. Wings would be awesome. Maybe… I got it: shark teeth," you say, thinking Yang would appreciate you jokingly choosing a cool-but-kinda-useless trait. Shark teeth would only serve to give you a slasher smile, as there are not too many opportunities to bite Grimm.

"That'd be hot!" Yang says, surprising you. "Lotta guys and girls in manga that have sharp fangs. Makes them look super cool! Course, that'd make some… *ahem* things difficult." She checks if Ruby is paying attention and mimes a blowjob when she sees her sister is off in the clouds.

"Some people might be into biting, at least…" Blake muses. "But ultimately more for show than anything."

"Yeah. Cool is always nice, though."

"Agreed!" Yang stands up, pushing her chair back slightly violently. "And speaking of cool, I wanna see what you can do with your sword now! All of Ruby's upgrades look pretty sweet, and I want to see them in action!"

You look down at your ice cream and start hurriedly eating the remains. You wanted to get good at using your weapon, which was now a much more manageable size and weight. Seeing as Jaune was your direct superior, you need to start leveling up if you ever want to actually become a hunter. You still feel like you owe Ozpin the effort to at least try after all he's given you, plus some martial skills would help with another Gild situation. And, of course, you don't want to pass up the opportunity to hang around with a bunch of cute girls giving you all their attention.

You all finish the last of your ice cream and head out to start training.


	15. Chapter 15

"Woah!" Yang cries, caught off guard by your swing. During training, you've been learning how to switch between short sword and great sword, flipping Synstylae between the two modes mid swing. What was once a normal swing from a sword turned into a heavy sweep as the blade lengthened and caught gravity. It was much less effort to swing the short version, but the extra length and heavy tip created a powerful pendulum when lengthened, adding some useful techniques to your arsenal.

Yang jumps back after barely deflecting your sword. She rubs her wrist under her gauntlet and says, "Owwwww, that one stings! You got me good there!" Shaking it off, she squares back up into a fighting pose. "That's the first one that really caught me off guard; you might just catch up to Jaune yet!"

"Sweet!" you say, excited to know that your sword was the problem. Now that it was a bit more diversified and sized for someone… your size, you feel that you're already leagues better than before. If you just under Jaune before, you feel like you could take him now!

You think, as Yang proves that you're still green by slipping past your offense and socking you in the face.

Stunned, you stumble back and lose sight of what's real. Man, even with Aura, nose blows really knock you for a loop. Trying to avoid another blow, you awkwardly swing your sword in the vague direction of the yellow blur, hoping to stall. Yang bats away your blade, knocking it out of your hands like swatting a fly.

"Ok, Superchamp, I think you're about done for today." Yang pats you on the back rather painfully, though the shock knocks you back to your senses.

Shaking your head, you refocus on Yang and nod. "Yeah, that's a good idea."

Blake hops into the ring and grabs your sword. Handing it to you, she says, "You did look a lot more natural fighting like that. Those upgrades seem to be doing the job quite well."

"Really!?" Ruby loudly emotes, flitting into the ring alongside you. "I thought you looked better, but I thought it might just be Yang toying with you!"

Ouch…

"I mean, I WAS," Yang throws out like it was a nonevent.

Ouch…

"But he was a lot LESS sucky than before."

"You can phrase that better, you know. Like, at all better," Blake says, betrayed by her smirk. "You can at least TRY to say he almost had you." You feel your cheeks turn red, embarrassed by being so outclassed by Yang.

"Not my style, BB."

"I definitely felt better," you say, nursing your nose along with your pride. "Up until, well, when you punched me in the face."

"That's how training goes!" Yang cheers. "It's the threat of face punching that gets you stronger, so you AVOID face punching!"

"Such a brilliant teacher you found," Blake says, snickering. She places a hand in your shoulder, not helping the blush on your face. You're still thankful that she's keeping your secret and not telling anyone about you being a Faunus; though, even if you appreciate that, that means you're not good enough at hiding it, plus you'll probably need to tell your friends eventually. It's kinda wrong to keep a secret like that, especially if you know they're good people.

Whereas racism is usually ingrained or learned via ignorance, Ruby and Yang don't seem to be affected by it. Neither had seemed to meet too many Faunus before Beacon, but they hold no prejudice, even though most of their exposure had to come from hearing about the White Fang. You'll tell them one day, but Weiss is still… less than enthusiastic about Faunus. You've still barely seen her, but you don't have a high opinion just yet.

Now that you were done training, there wasn't much day left. You'd gone though class, gotten an upgrade, gotten dinner, and gotten your ass kicked (though you were making progress!), but you didn't really feel like turning in for the night, considering it was still pretty early on a Friday. To be honest, you were kind of bored already; you've already been living on your own for several weeks, and while you definitely appreciate having your room to yourself, some forced interaction with humans isn't a bad thing. You didn't feel like going back to your room and pissing around until you decided to pass out.

Wondering what to do with your life, you shower and dry your hair. Ensuring that your beanie sufficiently covers your ears, you decide to grab a drink. As you wander to the fridge in the common room kitchen, you're surprised to nearly bump into… you look down and see the top of Weiss' head. This is a rather awkward introduction, as she abruptly stops before her face meets your chest before near-shouting, "Excuse me! Watch where you're going!" and stepping back.

"S-sorry," you stumble, taken off guard.

"If you keep being mean, this will be a double feature!" Yang cries from around the corner.

You allow Weiss to pass by you and peek around the wall to see Yang, as well as Blake and Ruby shacking up in the common room. They've all taken their seats around a decently sized tv, which was connected to a beefy looking laptop. Yang was lying down taking up a short couch, Ruby was in a one person chair with her legs kicked up, and Blake was sitting like a proper human being on a large couch.

Blake sees you staring at the scene before you and answers, "Movie night. Ruby's idea."

"Yup!" Ruby raises a bottle of juice in triumph before downing it. She has several more lining her side of the central table.

"We're TRYING to team build with Weiss by forcing her to watch a movie with us," Yang says. "It's the only thing we've had success with thus far, and just barely."

"It had to be less than two hours, not include violence, and be something she might actually enjoy."

"Well that knocks out most of the fun ones," you joke. Wait, is that true? What were movies like here? You've only watched a fraction of the content of Remnant on account of being here less that a few weeks.

Yang shrugs. "That's what I said. Blake suggested a Mayonaka flick and Ruby chose her favorite by him."

"Ah," you say, having zero idea who that is but pretending you do anyway. You stare at the tv, hoping that that somehow elucidates anything about anything.

Noticing you staring, Blake asks, "So what were you doing before our favorite teammate almost ran into you?"

"Oh, just grabbing a soda."

A smile stretches across Ruby's face as she looks over at you. "You wanna watch a movie with us? This one is my favorite one!"

Not wanting to reveal that you were a young single man with no plans on a Friday night, you add a bit of hesitation. "Uh… I was going to work on something, but I guess I can just wait on it. Sure!" You secretly thank god(s? Gods. There were/are two? This is confusing still) that circumstances lined up so well. "I guess I'll just grab a drink."

Blake scoots over on the bigger couch and pats next to her, despite there being quite a bit of extra room. "Here, you can sit next to me. Otherwise, Weiss will complain that you're too close to her the entire time." She nods at yet another small couch opposite Yang pointed at the tv. "We'll save the throne for the Ice Queen," she laughs, making sure to not be too loud lest Weiss hear her.

As if on cue, Weiss walks around the corner, holding a large glass bottle of coffee and an absolutely unnecessarily expensive looking blanket. Like, you understand she's rich, but it's embroidered, lacy, and looks like it's 50% silk or something. As you grab a soda, she gracefully sets herself up on her couch, sitting in a stiff and proper position before unfurling her blanket and meticulously adjusting her pillows. You would wonder what was up with her being so… formal, but the only thing you DO know about her is that she's richer than god(s? Dammit…).

You sit down next to Blake, nervously edging away from the cute girl that knew your secret before she actively scoots a bit closer. Getting the impression that she knew you had an interest in her, she giggles and smiles at you in a very teasing way. On one hand, you do like that she's this comfortable with you, but on the other, it's pretty embarrassing to know that she's aware of EVERYTHING you're hiding. Your courage accepts the invitation and you allow Blake to move over a bit until you balance out the couch a bit, leaving decent room between you and her.

Looking over at a clearly unhappy Weiss, you realize this is the first time you've really seen her outside of class. She's always been absent for most of your escapades with RWBY, and the most you've seen on her personality was her bratty, know-it-all self in class. The fact that she got angry at you for her almost walking into you… You don't have much reason to like her. You've heard plenty of stories about Weiss from her teammates, and they only have a slightly better impression.

Though Weiss looks at you sitting next to Blake with no small amount of annoyance, she relaxes and instructs, "Start the movie already."

You can FEEL Yang make a snide comment, and then you actually hear her whisper said snide comment with your Faunus ears, too low for Weiss to hear. The blonde hits play followed by the lights, sending the room into darkness and the pure movie viewing experience. Weiss' sour mood instantly starts to soften as the movie begins with panning scenes of gorgeously animated environments.

Starting to feel a weird sense of nostalgia, you watch the Mayonaka film recommended by Ruby and Blake. Something about the very soft, homely aesthetic of everything was soothing and familiar, the whimsy reminding you of… well, you feel it reminds you of other movies you've seen but can't quite remember. Anyway, a high quality of animation mixed with fun character designs and gorgeous backgrounds combined to provide an excellent evening of relaxation following your long day of school and training.

Much to your surprise, the Ice Queen in Weiss starts to melt maybe about fifteen minutes into the movie once she sees two young children playing with a large weird bear thing. Her stiff sitting posture fades to her casually reclining in her couch as she watches every scene without words. Though you don't really like Weiss yet, you like that she's at least not bad all the time. You do hope you'll warm up to her, though she needs to warm up herself.

Meanwhile, you enjoy sitting next to Blake, who isn't too shy about shifting around to suit herself. Many a time her legs or hands touch yours, and every time it happens, she gives you a cute smile before she returns to the movie. Sadly, you aren't adept enough at social cues from friendly women to know if she's actively flirting or just being nice. Best not to press your luck.

The night passes with you learning that Weiss has an obsession over cute things. Though you and everyone enjoyed the movie, and Ruby suggested it, an accidental peek at Weiss' scroll as the credits were rolling let you know that she had ordered a large plushie. You wonder if she has a collection of cute stuffed animals; that seems like a very rich girl thing to do. You also feel bad about it, but you figure that there was no thought on her purchase; Weiss was rich, so she had no worries spending whatever on imports. Meanwhile, you have like, three good shirts.

Regardless, you see a good side of Weiss for once. You see her happily chat with her teammates and join in yourself, something that had yet to happen as far as you were aware. Hopefully, this was a sign of things to come, as you really want Blake to get along with her; you've come to understand that there's some friction between them due to Faunus and the company Weiss' dad runs.

Eventually, you wave to the now fully formed and functional RWBY. You return to your room and sort of collapse, seeing as you've had a pretty full day. You look forward to not having to wake up. 


	16. Chapter 16

You face the greatest dilemma of your life, or at least the time you remember.

Do you allow possibly several of your ribs to be fractured, or do you lose one of your best (and one of critically few) shirts?

Seeing as you enjoy walking without suffering, and you need to keep up with training, you focus your Aura and pray. Yang lands a messy, too-late-to-dodge-completely blow that thankfully provides no damage, but shreds a good half of your shirt. Thankfully, ignoring flowing your Aura through your clothes means you have enough to tank the blow and not have it broken entirely, but you hit the ropes of the training ring and slump down, exhausted.

"Aw, crap, sorry sorry sorry!" Yang babbles, regaining her balance. "I'd already fired and I couldn't stop in time- OH GOD YOUR SHIRT!"

You raise a hand to stop Ruby from tackling you. "I'm fine, I'm fine! I blocked it at the last second."

"I didn't realize you were so low! I guess you actually started pushing me this time!" Yang holds out her hand to pull you up, which you gladly accept. "Only been a few weeks and you and Jaune are halfway decent!"

"That's a comfort at least," you breathe, climbing up. You nod at Ruby and Weiss and then a bit more specifically to Blake to eat them know you're alright. "I was tired of getting my ass kicked." You look down at where a flaming fist blasted through your shirt and see the charred hole and the (thankfully) undamaged skin underneath. "Though… damnit."

"Yeah… sorry about that…" Yang's hair fades in color a bit as she surveys her damage.

"Aw… I liked that shirt on you," Blake says, in that infuriatingly cute way where you don't know if she's flirting or not.

"It WAS my best…" you say, dejected and a little embarrassed. Yeah, you've grown some muscle since you started at Beacon, but it's still pretty weird having a bunch of girls focus on your exposed body.

"I'm sorry, what?" Weiss asks, with an odd disdain in her voice. Though you've been hanging around her lately and seen her better side, this line reminded you of her bitchy side.

"What? My shirt?"

"That… that was your best shirt?"

You look down at your so-called best shirt. It was a decent collared shirt you've taken to wearing; it went with your beanie, and it was the classiest one you found for cheap. Ozpin was still employing you, but you've got money, not spending money.

"Uh… yeah. Why?"

"Oh, nothing," Weiss says in a very, "Oh, something," manner.

"She's saying she's rich and she doesn't approve of your clothes."

"Yang! I did NOT say that!"

"You can say plenty without words, Weiss."

"But I didn't say anything!"

"If you think it's bad, then why don't you buy him a new shirt?"

"You're the one that ruined this one!"

"And you're the one that's on her way to owning the world."

"UGH!"

"Both of you," Blake says, effectively ending the bickering between Yang and Weiss. She hops up onto the ring and looks at your shirt. "When you say it's your best, you really mean you don't have like, a proper dress shirt?"

"Nothing super fancy," you say trying to avoid too much detail. You still haven't told anyone save Oz and Glynda about your predicament, so you don't want to mention the fact that you only have a few sets of cheap clothes is because you're from another world. Thinking about the excuse you've thought up for this particular moment, you say, "Uh, my house got major flooded and we got screwed out of insurance. Lost most of my clothes and it took everything to bring things back to normal."

"Oh, my gosh!" Ruby interjects. "When! You never said anything!"

"I didn't want it to be a big deal, but it was right before I got here." Replace flood with, "unexplainably appearing in another world," and you aren't really lying that bad…

"Now don't you feel like an ass, Weiss~" Yang teases. "Making fun of his outfit when he got screwed over."

"I wouldn't say something so crude! But I do apologize, I had no idea." Instantly, Weiss was by your side, doting over your clothes. She'd changed from rich bitch to generous benefactor after hearing of your plight. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to help you dress better." You'd feel better about her attention if you didn't know she wants hard judging your clothing choices.

Though you still are a little annoyed that Weiss and Weiss alone thinks lowly of your clothes, you aren't in the position to say no to free clothes. Your pride was already at the point where it didn't matter with RWBY after you lost to Jaune, so you don't feel too bad about handouts. You'll have to work hard to make it up to them, though; thankfully, you're already a much better fighter, so there was nowhere to go but up.

"So you're strapped for cash, too? Is that why you've been working for Oz?" Blake asks, worried.

"Yeah, he's been a great help. Finally started getting things in order, but it's just some survival cash."

"It's decided then!" Ruby cheers, jumping in the air triumphantly. "We're going on a shopping trip! My birthday's coming up, so I'll have plenty of money to waste, so I can spot you now!"

"I guess I owe you after smoking your shirt, so…" Yang snickers. "I WAS gonna use my money to buy a new bra, but I guess I can just go without~"

"Oh, my gosh, Yang!"

"What? Never heard of #freethenipple?"

"Unless you plan on skipping your top and jacket as well, that's not the same thing, Yang."

"Wouldn't you like to see that~"

"You wouldn't. You're too much of a tease."

"Don't tempt me. You know I love a challenge."

"I challenge you to behave yourself!" Ruby shouts.

"Challenge failed."

"I'll be able to spare some lien, but only because I'll miss that shirt on you," Blake says before Ruby and Yang could keep bickering and teasing.

Thankful for the distraction, Weiss says, "And I suppose I can use my family's money for a cause that ISN'T a front for a lobbyist."

"Wow, your dad really sucks."

"I'll tell you now I don't share his taste in business partners. Especially not after he told one in so many words that he'd be fine letting his son marry me once we were of a more proper age."

"Wow, your dad REALLY–"

"When I was 12."

"Shopping trip!" Ruby said, trying her hardest to break through the awkward. "Shopping trip time!"

"Eh, prolly best if we go tomorrow, Rubes. We won't have the time to Queer Sight this dude properly this late," Yang says at 4 in the afternoon, not at all late.

Well. This might take a minute. But you can't really say no…

The next day, you slump out of bed at a reasonable 11:15 as Yang bangs on your door. Weekends were supposed to be for sleeping, but it seems your shopping trip was going to take all day. Sure, you NEEDED it, but still…

Nonetheless, you wake up and throw on a shirt that wasn't recently torn to shreds. You realize you still lack proper pajamas… Yeah, you needed this.

Soon enough, you follow RWBY, sporting their own unique outfits you've yet to see, not realizing that they were rubbing it in a little. Ruby had in an overall skirt combo, Weiss a fancy trench coat dress, Blake a more basic but cute white top, and Yang was wearing something out of a fanservicey video game and you were ALL for it, while you had on a t-shirt and the same pants you wear almost every day. You have a little money and not TOO much to spend it on, so you think it best to grab some more stylish clothes so you can diversify a little.

You remember that you still only have two beanies. You've gone this far wearing the same two every day, making sure to only wash them when you had absolutely no intention of going anywhere and when you had a hoodie to cover your ears so you didn't risk exposing that you were a Faunus. Blake already knew, and while you feel Yang and Ruby wouldn't mind, Weiss sorta reinforced the reasons why you didn't want to go public. She'd said some not-great stuff, plus she already judged you hard for having decent-but-not-great clothes.

So, clothes, pajamas, and at least one other beanie. Luckily, Remnant was full of people that wore their signature most days, but it's been a few months and you can't get away with saying you have three of the same two beanies.

Following Yang's fashionable footstep and miniskirt, you follow her to a place called Coal's, one of those big department places with a floor dedicated only to makeup. Thankfully, the second floor was more bearable on your Faunus-enhanced nose, being clothes. RWB disperses, leaving you to pick out a few things yourself before you get swarmed with women trying to dress you. Yang, however, stays by your side, likely because she figured you'd want some of your own input.

"Why don't we start over there?" Yang suggests, pointing at a discount rack. You're thankful she's the one that stuck around; Ruby was always nervous when she was alone with you, Weiss was… Weiss and Blake would be… well, you still want to get a little more comfortable before you try asking her out or anything. Yang was the easiest to hang with by far, and you aren't about to say no to her bending over to inspect shirts, knowing you're enjoying the view. You were more interested in Blake, but Yang was still incredibly attractive and she likes you well enough to shake around a little, so you continue to eye the rack.

"AHA!" Yang shouts, triumphantly holding up a deep red collared shirt. "Only $5.99! Score!" She shows it off to you with a wide smile.

"Oh, that does look nice," you say, imagining yourself wearing the red shirt. Maroon was kind of your color that you've adopted, being Redfield and all, so you reach out to add it to a growing pile.

Without noticing you reach out, Yang holds it over her chest and says, "Yeah, I know! It'd look great when I go clubbing!" She also fails to notice your blank stare, brought on by her getting distracted by shopping for herself. "Just imagine: some cute earrings, a necklace, like, 60% of the buttons undone, I'd look hot as dicks!"

"Uhh… yeah," you say, now imagine Yang wearing a button-down with only a few buttons done up. She WOULD show off a good deal of her chest, much like her current outfit is doing right now. "Red works for you."

Snickering, Yang says, "You think?" She closes her eyes, then opens them to reveal they changed color to a strong crimson, then blinks to change back.

"That's still awesome."

"Yeah, it is. Also, yeah, totally, this would work super good on you." Yang laughs at your confusion. "Like, don't get me wrong, I could ROCK men's shirts, but what, I'm gonna steal a rose red collared shirt for this cheap? Dude, this was made for you."

You huff, smiling at Yang's antics. Yeah, this is why she was easiest to hang out with. You grab the shirt from her and add it to your try ons. The blonde sets you up with some (hopefully) good shirts that won't break the bank, plus a new pair of pants to try on. Soon after, Ruby, Blake, and Weiss return with their own styles and picks for you. Now to play a little fashion star and rock the runway that was the area immediately outside the changing rooms!


	17. Chapter 17

Of course Yang would play a runway track on her phone. As you step out wearing a new outfit, she fakes silent screams, saying, "OHHH! AAAHHH!" You can't help but crack a smile as you give RWBY a turnaround of the shirt Yang picked out and a pair of tight black pants. You must admit, you feel pretty upscale right now, like some sort of clubber in a nice maroon collared shirt and well-shaped black pants. All you need is a gold necklace, a hipster haircut, and some bracelets and you feel like you could play a douchey extra in a movie.

Though, you might need a new piece of headgear…

Your beanie was nice, but it didn't fit all moods. As such, you also found a nice black hat that went with most things. It matched well enough, and it still hid your ears. Luckily, people wore hats at all times, regardless of any sort of formal situation; you'd be pretty boned if Glynda didn't allow headwear in her class, but you guess Remnant's obsession on individuality overrode etiquette.

As if it wasn't obvious immediately, Weiss lets you know her rich blood approves by clapping. Everyone else was nice, but her approval was really the one to go for, at least for stuff you'll be wearing outside of your room. You don't care for her opinion on t shirts and sweatpants, seeing as she probably has silk pajamas.

Speaking of, after you run through most of the stuff Yang chose, which combined classy with casual, Ruby's choices were… just casual. Where Yang had collars and buttons, Ruby had stylish but simplistic graphic tees, matching vests (which you imagine is her telling you to wear something like her corset), and a focus on comfort, which you aren't opposed to. Weiss clearly isn't a fan of most of them, so you decide to save the ones she's least offended by, and one just because it features a band you like. Your taste in music has evolved significantly, seeing as you had to find a completely new playlist after your crash.

All of the things Weiss chose for you were… her. She wasn't assisting with your stylings, she was imposing her will on them. Her outfits of choice made you look and feel like you belonged in a far grander standing that you belonged in now, which isn't… the worst thing. Sure, you don't see yourself attending any charity events in the future, but Yang fake-but-well-meaning-swooning over your fancy clothes lets you know you look damn good at the very least. Though Ruby is a bit apathetic, Weiss and Blake also voice their approval, with Weiss even stating that you look like a proper gentlemen. Sure, Yang made fun of her for it, but…

Best of all, Weiss was buying, so she got stuck with the… Lord, $80 for a white button up is stupid. Whatever, it's on the rich girl. It does annoy you that she doesn't even blink at the very costly things she'd be buying you for what amounted to a minor insult, but you don't have the funds to be proud. She sets you up with a few duds to wear in any sort of formal occasion, and you'd be the best dressed one there.

Blake… you don't know how, but she found some great things for better prices. Despite you already raiding the clearance aisle with Yang, everything Blake had picked out for you was sub $10 and was of the same quality as the shirt she liked you in. She must be experienced about budgeting or something, as she even found some cheap jeans that fit absolutely perfectly. Blake's expertise extended to headwear as well; you guess her love of ribbons translated to the ability to find a good hat. It was one of those old school newsboy caps that was A. in your color, and B. seemed to be built in such a way so as to comfortably fit your ears. You can already picture the pins you could place on it to make it even more you, which would match with the logos you'll have done at the technician in the mall.

"I really can't thank you guys enough," you say as you check out wearing a new jacket that Yang had picked out. Thanks to RWBY, you had not only a whole new closet, but specific outfits for all situations. No longer were you the guy that showed up to all events in a hoodie and jeans, including workouts and professional meetings. "Seriously, this helps so, so much."

"Don't thank us yet, boy," Yang laughs. "I ain't gonna carry all that for you." She points to your MANY bags of clothes that you now own, which you now have to carry. "Think of it as Aura training."

"I can't be that ba– OOF," you say, immediately eating your words as you lift several dozen pounds of fiber and buttons. It's not fair that clothes can get so heavy… Though, taking Yang's advice, you boost your Aura, which has gotten pretty natural after all your training. It dramatically lightens the load, hopefully until you can deposit everything on an air bus. Air buses being a thing that you were now accustomed to; though futuristic, you've now accepted that, the holograms, and the other high tech wonders of Remnant at face value.

"Now, onwards and upwards!" Ruby cries, earning Weiss' clear disapproval. "To home! So I can study!"

"I admire the attempt at a lie, Ruby," Blake snarks. "But were not quite done yet."

"Huh?"

"It's not a shopping trip without a stopping by a technician, and it's not a mall trip without a pretzel," Yang answers. "This guy needs LOGOS."

You look down at your bags. Oh, yeah, logos. You remember your first mall trip and how you came across a place that painted a rose logo on the back of your hoodie to fit with your assumed name. While you could probably pass on your fancier clothes, you should emblazon your style with your own personal style. Identity was big in Remnant, so you needed something to stick out from the crowd, even if they were wearing the same thing.

"I'm down."

"Great. Will all that, it'll take a minute, so we can grab some food in the mean time." Yang began strutting down the mall's hallway towards the food court. You and the rest of RWBY followed her to the technician studio, the place that looks like a painter's paradise mixed with a clothing store.

You chat with the technician and let them know what sort of things you're looking for and where. Yang especially gives her input on where to put your logos and identifiers, and on what. You drop off most of your more casual gear, sift through a catalogue of cool pins and patches for any standouts, and make sure that they know that you're a fan of roses and thorns. Gotta keep in theme, after all, and Ruby is all for it. She picks out some cuter versions of the sharper roses you find and gets them as pins.

Finding yourself with about a half hour to kill until your clothes are ready, you and RWBY wander around the mall. Yang snacks on a fluffy pretzel, Ruby chugs a milkshake, and Blake and Weiss sip tea and coffee, respectively. You yourself enjoy a cheap soda, seeing as your budget is a bit low at the moment. As usual, Yang takes the lead, showing you around her favorite haunts while Ruby excitedly follows. Blake is a bit more subdued, and Weiss is somewhat annoyed, but also curious about normal people entertainment. The sisters frequented the mall, being small town girls, Blake knows the secret hole in the walls, and Weiss is basically lost in the sea of non-Chanel.

"You can borrow my PX4 when we get back," Yang says after you mention you lack any method to play video games aside from a graphically-lacking work laptop. Your first bonus jaunt was through a niche video game store filled with classics and old controllers. "I'm currently running through that super hard samurai game that came out a while ago, so I won't– YO THEY GOT A COPY OF CVM 2?" Yang lightspeeds over to a shelf, captivated by a game's boxart. You swear she somehow used Ruby's Semblance. "Ruby, check it out!"

You scooch over and let Ruby pass you in the tiny hallway of shelves. She and Yang begin reminiscing about their arcade days as you peek over at Blake and Weiss. Weiss refused to step into the video game shop, so she was busy sifting through her scroll for entertainment. Blake was perusing the game toys up at the front. You join her, staring at several unfamiliar but nonetheless cute mascot characters captured into tiny figures and stands. There's a sort of uncanny valley effect as you see things that you FEEL you know, but also know that they aren't familiar; you FEEL you've seen a similar orange mouse thing, but you only know the feeling that this alternate world knockoff gives you. It was frustrating. In fact, it was probably the most annoying thing about all of this.

Food always tasted like itself. Burgers were burgers, fries were fries, and pizza was pizza. The internet was full of cute cat videos and dumbasses not knowing politics. Even the futuristic technology was just better versions of the things you remember.

Media, though.

Media was something different. While you can pretend you were just going to a new fast food joint that opened up or checking a new website, there was an absence you feel not knowing the cultural zeitgeist of people your age. You know everyone in this mall could probably name the orange electric rat thing, if not because they grew up with it, then because it was so ingrained in culture. Blake didn't even really like video games, but she was clearly considering buying a small figure. After she did, even Weiss knew the saccharine creature, and she didn't know how to hold a controller.

You lack these memories. As you look at several plushies, you know the feeling of what this toy should mean, but you lack true meaning. It was the same for everything. Even having been around in Remnant for a couple months didn't let you absorb the things common to everyone about tv and movies and entertainment. This stupid cute orange rat has probably been around as long as Ruby has, yet it eludes you.

"Yo, Briar."

You turn and look at Yang, confused.

"You in there? We're going." Yang motions behind her, where RWBY was waiting.

You look back and realize you were staring at a wall of plush video game monsters for like, three minutes without expressing anything. That's a little weird, so you think for a second and play it off by saying, "Sorry. Thought I was… remembering something. I get triggers that sort of like… pop stuff into place." You aren't exactly wrong… Though your friends think that your lack of memories was caused by a crash. This is the first time you've ever done something like this, however; usually, you can play it off a bit better.

"Oh, sorry man. You figure it out?"

"Almost," you say, again not quite lying. "Just a feeling of sentimentality right now."

"I get that." Yang holds up a game case. "My dad and I played this all the time when I was a kid and arcades existed on every corner. Course, it's super unbalanced, but the sprites are rad and I'm a sucker for the announcer screaming supers."

"Yeah, that feeling," you say, trying to look casual by scratching the back of your head. "It'll come to me."

"You know," Blake says, "they say that scent trigger old memories better than anything visual. You spend literally all your life seeing, so all that sensory data gets lost in the mix, but there's not nearly as many times where you comprehend a smell. Like, people getting that tingly feeling with freshly cut grass or the sidewalk after it rained."

"You say words pretty," Yang says, winking at Blake, who rolls her eyes and smiles.

"On that note," Weiss says, walking away from the group with purpose. "I want to visit Body and Bathworks. Maybe a scent that will help you remember will be there."

Yang shrugs, but Weiss wasn't looking. Nobody objects to following Weiss, so you visit a store full of perfumes, body washes, and other things that are very clearly not marketed to men.

You pick up a body wash that was close to the entrance of the store. Your Faunus nose makes it physically impossible to stay inside that scent-rich for longer than a minute. Instead, you chat with Blake outside about how overpowering the smell is. She seems to be highly aware of it and understands how hard it is for you to be around a place like that.

You do not find any scent that helps you recollect any memory.


	18. Chapter 18

**NOTE: From this point forward, the story will be written with a generic main character.**

Bluh, delays. The combination of you buying so many clothes and you going to a mall on a weekend meant that your customization job was taking a minute. You expected it to be done after you got food, checked out a game store, and had all your Faunus senses assaulted by a soap shop. Thanks Weiss. You know it's not her fault, considering she doesn't even know you're a Faunus, but man her suggestion nearly killed you. Luckily, Blake also had no interest in going inside, and stood just outside with you. That gave you a chance to talk to her one on one.

While it was brief, your conversation was thankfully not only about you. Your starting point was talking about your, "memory loss," in relation to that video game mascot you knew but didn't. In addition to some maybe-undeserved sympathy points, Blake started talking about herself. Though she was surprisingly cagey with details, the girl talked about how odd she found Yang and Ruby's fascination was; she said she wasn't from Vale (though didn't elaborate), so she didn't have too much experience with big cities nor the culture of gaming up until recently. Of course, she said that while cuddling a small plush of one of the monsters. She found it super cute and liked it when Yang showed her the anime.

It was annoying. Blake didn't immerse herself in video games, but still knew the monsters. Weiss knew about them despite hating video games. You don't. Oh, well.

Blake talked more about her fascination with Ruby and Yang. She was constantly caught off guard by their duality; both were born huntresses, knowledgeable enough to fight Grimm since age ten, but both were also huge nerds that loved video games and childish fairy tales. You, not having come from a place where you had to fight to survive, didn't carry such a mix yet. She found joy in how much the sisters enjoyed life without worry about tomorrow. Blake knew the pair had plenty to worry about, but Ruby's words when they first met struck her; the first time the two met, Ruby had told her she wanted to be a hero, just like in the fairy tales. At first, she thought Ruby was just being naive, but eventually she realized that was real.

Moving to now, you and RWBY were killing time at a toy store. You're still surprised how fun it was to just look at random old toys and reminisce about childhood or think about whatever the new childhood toy was. You guess the company had quite a bit to do with that; Yang made anything interesting, but Ruby and (surprisingly) Weiss' childish enthusiasm was oddly infectious. You're thankful to see another side of Weiss; you've seen little other than her bratty personality, so seeing her gush over how much she liked the REALLY old school plastic figures of huntsman and Grimm. Apparently, they reminded her of her grandfather. Anything is a plus with her.

As for Blake, she takes an interest in what looks to be classic children's books. You've seen the type, and while you don't remember the contents, you recognize the painty art style and simple characters. Blake's love of books must have started out very young!

While you browse over some board games, you step over a young girl with a weightless tail. She looked to be completely absorbed by the shelves of toys, as one would expect a maybe 6ish child to be. You suddenly realize it's a bit odd that five young adults with no children are exploring a toy store aimed at sub-10 year olds. Oh well. It's still fun…

Time passes as you and RWBY wait for your phone to alert you that your clothes are ready. Though today was fun, you were getting a bit restless; you've explored pretty much everything there was go explore, not counting the places Weiss straight up vetoed. She couldn't stand another game store, so that would have to wait until she was doing something else.

You and RWBY wander around the mall for a bit looking for something to do until something strikes you. You see the little girl from the toy shop, herself wandering… and by herself, too. Looking around, you don't see anyone that looks to be her parent; the young girl was looking up at everyone, trying to find someone she recognized. She was too quiet to show fear, but panic and anxiety painted her face, making it clear she was lost.

Right before you move to say something, Yang says, "Hey, is she alone?" She points at the young girl, who looked like she was try to hide as best she could in the open.

"I think so," you say. "She was in the toy store with us a second ago."

Yang looks around, prompting everyone else to do the same. You don't see anyone frantically looking for their daughter, which didn't bode well.

"We should do something."

"I'm sure it's fine," Weiss says. "Her parents are probably in the store next to her. If not, mall security will take care of her." There she goes again with the negative traits…

"Weiss, I'm not just gonna let a kid wander around a mall."

"It's not your responsibility to look after someone else's kid, Yang."

Yang's eyes flash red. "I wouldn't expect that coming from you. How IS your father doing?"

Weiss eyes narrow. "I'm not sure what you're getting at, nor do I like your tone."

As Yang and Weiss glare at each other, you see two guys, about your age, wander up to the little girl. A red flag ticks when they A. don't have any Faunus traits, and B. give you the familiar impression of the people you met the first time you went to the mall which resulted in a black eye. You hesitate for just one moment too much, which you immediately regret.

"Woah, check it out," one of the boys says. "Looks like another dirty stray."

You find yourself seething immediately as you watch the two men, far to old to be bullying a child, bully a child.

"What, you think her owner got too lazy and tossed her?" The second boy squatted down and touched the girl on the head before roughly petting her hair. Considering she was a child, her reaction was to whimper and shrink. "Aww, how sad. I'm sure we can find a nice kennel for you. Otherwise, I can take you back into an alley where you belong."

You shoot forward, rage in your steps without needing to think. Your body was driven by the hatred you felt towards Gild and his type; the second their mouths opened, your body forced itself into a wrath for your kind. And, of course, the girl was a cat Faunus, judging from her tail. Blake is only an instant behind you, also ready to fight. After Yang and Ruby recover from the initial shock, they follow, equally furious. Though she takes an extra moment, even Weiss' fury ignites and she follows as well.

"You kind telling me what exactly it is that you're doing?" you say, looking down at the two men assaulting a Faunus. It'd be bad enough if it was a regular child, but they were also committing a hate crime as well. "You don't look fit to be parents."

The boys look at each other and laugh. Rising to their feet, one says, "We ain't her parents. What, we look like ferals to you?"

"Then take your hands off her. She's a child." You deliberately ignore the slur.

"And what are you gonna do? She part of your litter?"

"Funny coming from trash." In any other circumstance, you know Yang would cheer for your burn, but she had nothing but red eyes and raised hands for the situation.

"Cool it, Beanie. I just think we'd make good pet owners is–" a crack resounds as your fist connects with his face. Screw consequence, this guy needed an asskicking. Now that you had Aura and training, you could actually fight back against people like Gild; before, you were a boy in an unfamiliar body. The man staggers back, dazed from the blow to his nose. "Who the f–"

Crack.

Suddenly, you're on the floor, glad to be winning the fight this time. You feel a rough hand grip your shoulder as the other racist tries to wrench you off of his friend.

"Get off of him!" the second boy cries as you beat his friend's face in.

"Nah, I think he deserves this," Blake says, grabbing the arm touching you. With a pull and a kick, she trips the other boy and knocks him to the ground. "Whoops."

"You bitch!" the boy spouts from the ground.

"Whoops," Blake says, kicking the grounded racist in the face, playing it off almost as if she didn't see him there. "You should be more careful."

You pause your onslaught. You've felt anger before, but MAN, was this cathartic. You aren't quite sure what took over you, but the mix of the person you were punching assaulting, threatening, and targeting a child strikes you just as much as the fact that they were doing so to a Faunus. You've never been quick to anger, but something just decided to snap in you. Still, best to make it feasible that you were in the right. You climb up off of the racist and stand.

Glancing around the crowd that had gathered around you, you see a security guard stumbling to do anything about the situation. They saw you take down a guy after he touched a little girl without hearing what he said, so it probably didn't look good for you. Still, you had friends. The racist did, but he was in the floor screaming obscenities at Blake, so no favors there.

Thankful beyond any reasoning that Yang exists, you hear her say, "I think this little girl is lost. The guy on the ground said something about taking her behind an alley!" In addition to somewhat inaccurately stating completely accurate facts, Yang plays up the distressed bystander and says, "I heard them talking about throwing her in a kennel!" while looking disgusted. To be fair, she was telling the truth, but the two boys were clearly joking, if in poor taste. Though, as she points out, "They were grabbing at her!"

Ruby raises her hand. "Yeah! He stepped in to stop them!"

Weiss folds her arms and huffs. "Simply disgusting. To be so brazen in a public area." You're glad she's playing along. It's a weird situation where the two boys on the ground are super in the wrong, but Yang was playing them up as pedophiles in addition to racists. Not like they deserve better…

The security guard walks up to you, huffing. He was a bit too portly to be of much use in any real situation, but he seems to accept Yang's only-slightly-exaggerated story. He nods at you and says, "Thanks, boy. Though, next time, call us. We can't have people running around attacking each other freely; that's what we're for."

Not wanting to argue, you nod. "Yes, sir." Sure, a random chubby cop wouldn't do much to intimidate some entitled teens, but whatever. Deciding to justify yourself a bit, you say, "I was trained to protect people, albeit from Grimm."

"Ah, a Beacon student?" You nod. "Good to see they're teaching you kids right."

Yang walks up to the Faunus girl and kneels down. Showing her skills with dealing with children, she pats her on the head (gently, not like a creep) and touches her hand. Despite being dressed like fanservice incarnate, she looks incredibly motherly and gentle as opposed to her overtly sexual and rough self. Gripping the girl's hand lightly, she says, "It's okay now. We'll help you find your parents." The girl, too shy and scared to speak, hugs Yang. Yang hugs her back and picks her up like a mother would. Turning to the security guard, she says, "She's lost. Can you like… call in or something?"

"Of course! We'll get you back to your parents right away, and I'll deal with these two."

A few minutes later, you were watching the Faunus girl enjoy an ice cream Yang had bought her. Another security guard shows up with a hysteric cat-eared woman behind them; the girl's mother runs to her daughter and scoops her up, thanking the Brothers that she found her child. Yang waves her off, earning a heart-wrenchingly cute wave back from the little girl.

Turning to address the group, Yang says, "Well, that was eventful. Jeez, Briar, you kicked his ass!"

You nervously scratch your head. "Yeah… I wasn't gonna sit there and let him get away with that. Thankfully, quote unquote, he touched her. I'd probably be in a lot of trouble if he was just harassing her."

"And that's why the world sucks," Yang says, meaning her words but keeping a joking smile. "Do you know HOW many times guys have catcalled me and I've wanted to punch them?"

"None?" Blake responds, smirking.

"yeah it was none im a slut for catcalling" Yang says flatly. "But sometimes they're uglyyy."

"You just… accept random strangers objectifying your body?" Weiss asks, horrified. "And LIKE it?"

"Eh, depends on how pervy it is. I'm never gonna GO for them, but…"

"Yanggg," Ruby says, unhappy with her sister's antics. Before she can continue, you get a text from the technician shop saying that your clothes were ready.

"Looks like we're finally done!" you cheer.

"That's narratively convenient…" Blake looks around, finding a store window where she could look into a camera at an audience that wasn't there. "Whatever. Time to head home."

This mall trip turned out to be pretty eventful, but at least you got to punch a racist. That's always a good time. Oh, and you guess helping a lost child was pretty cool. At this point, all your cool clothes were really just a bonus. Now you can punch racists, help children, AND look styling.

Hopefully nothing bad comes from you punching a guy, though. 


	19. Chapter 19

Today felt like it was a long day. You'd spent a good chunk of it shopping for clothes, which is sweet. Now you have enough outfits to work with just about any scenario, and you didn't need to spend a ton of money to do it. And best of all, you got to punch a racist in the face with no–

Oh, wait, a text?

"Please report to my office as soon as possible. Bring Ms. Belladonna as well," you receive from Ozpin's number. Of course, you were probably the only one of the students to have him on your contacts, but it'd been a long time since he texted you directly. After your start-up and school beginning, you hadn't needed him for anything specifically, and he communicated your work schedule through email. So… Damn, that meant you were in trouble.

Damn. You'd just gotten comfortable in your room… Oh, well. Though you were justified, you did attack someone. Ozpin knew you and the kind of person you were, though, so some small explanations might help. You really hope Glyn– Ms. Goodwitch wouldn't be there; she's a lot less easy to talk to, plus she doesn't exactly care for you seeing as you used her cape as a loincloth. She's a bad mix of scary and super hot, too, which makes it hard for you to speak.

You send Ozpin a text saying, "Understood," and set out. Leaving your lonely room, you start the walk to RWBY's dorm, hoping Blake will be there. You… wait, you still don't have her number? Sure, you weren't dating or anything, but she was your friend. Probably not the best time, though. You do have Yang's number, seeing as she's so personable and friendly. Maybe she'd know where she is, but you're already heading towards her room.

A few minutes later and you knock on RWBY's door. You're quickly answered by Ruby. "Oh, hey! What's up?"

You peek past Ruby to see if Blake is in her room. Scratching the back of your head, you say, "So you when I punched that guy at the mall?"

"yeah that was like two hours ago."

"Well… Ozpin wants to see me in his office. And Blake."

"That's to be expected…" Blake says, closing a book. She gets up and walks over to the door. 'Scuse me, Ruby." Ruby moves out of the way and lets her through. "I guess we're partners in crime now."

"How could this happen!?" Yang calls from her bunk, giggling. "I thought we raised you to stay in line, but now you're a DELINQUENT! Boohoohoo!" she whines sarcastically.

"Thank you, Yang," Blake says, dryly.

"I'll vouch for you if you tell him they were pedos! Have fun~"

"Thank you, Yang," Blake says, dryly.

You and Ruby snicker. Blake closes the door before Yang can come up with a snappy retort and starts leading the way to Ozpin's office.

"How can I face my parents again?" Blake waxes, over dramatically putting a hand to her head. "Knowing I'm a crass beast that gets sent to the headmaster's office, I say!"

You laugh again. "You're taking this well."

"And you aren't? I don't care if I get in trouble; we did a good thing."

"Yeah, but it doesn't feel like that when we have to turn in a paper. In fact, ON PAPER, I beat a dude's face in."

"One making racist comments and, while maybe a bit exaggerated by a certain blonde, he was grabbing at a child. If you get taken to court, everyone's gonna be on your side."

"I bet Ozpin agrees with you, to be honest. If we were really in trouble, Glynda would have sent me something."

"About that, actually. Did Ozpin contact you specifically? How?"

"He has my number since I work in the office. And no, I don't text our headmaster unless he's telling me about a schedule or something."

"Aww, I was imagining you and him texting each other about girls and sports or whatever else men like."

"I really don't want to talk about girls with a guy… wait, how old is Ozpin?"

"He looks anywhere between 30 and 60 with that white hair, but I don't exactly know. He feels old."

"Whatever. I don't exactly want to talk with him about girls or sports."

"But what if he was actually like, 20 and just looked old?" Blake smirked.

You consider that it's a bit difficult to tell how old people in Remnant are. One upperclassman was maybe a year older than you but was a good two feet taller. "It doesn't matter how young the guy looks if he's actually like a thousand years old."

"But what if he's got another soul?"

"Hmm?"

"Eh, I was halfway through a book about a man with two souls when I got to Beacon. One old man died and wound up sharing a soul with a young man."

"Ok, I'm losing the thread on soul politics here…" You also consider that Remnant is a world where a soul is a quantifiable thing; you remember a soul being a theory that was a concept and didn't have any defined proof and couldn't be calculated and was something that you theoretically felt but couldn't see and okay that's a headache…

Blake giggles, bringing you back to reality. "'Soul politics.' I like that. A good book title."

"Really?"

"No."

You narrow your eyes.

"What we're getting at is that you did a good thing." Blake tilts her head and smiles at you. "Thank you. There are too many times where people see things and do nothing. I'm happy you're one to intervene."

You blush and scratch your head. "Yeah… Just doing the right thing I guess. Plus it felt good to punch him."

"It should feel good to make us Faunus proud."

"Yeah."

…

…

…

Wait.

What?

"Wait, what?"

"What, what?"

You double-take at Blake. "You're… a Faunus?"

Blake blinks several times. After processing for a moment, she says, "Yes. I am?" Her tone is a mix of confusion and disbelief.

"Really?"

"Uh… yeah." Blake's ribbon twitches. "Did you not know that?"

"well that went completely over my head" you say, looking at Blake's very-clearly-animal-ear-resembling-bow and feeling stupid. "I had no idea." You suddenly remember that you still don't belong in this world. Had you lived as a Faunus from whenever you were born, you probably could have picked up that Blake was clearly too involved. She was always the first to counter Cardin when he said something racist, always the one to play both sides of the Human-Faunus conflicts, always the one to stand up for Faunus– because she is one.

Blake looks unsure if she was about to burst out laughing. "Well, at least I'm good at hiding it… Yes, I'm a Faunus." She glances around and, seeing nobody around, unfurls part of her bow to reveal a cat ear. "Did you really not know?"

"I want you to know I feel very stupid."

"If it's any consolation, my team still doesn't know. Of course, I'd rather you not tell them." Blake hides her ear again. Man… that was really obvious on second look.

"They don't know?"

"Nope. You know Weiss. She wouldn't handle it very well." Blake slows her pace, allowing you two to keep chatting while still heading to Ozpin's office. "I imagine it'll come out at some point. I swear Yang keeps trying to catch me changing."

"That sounds like her…"

"I mean, not that I'd say no, but I do wish she'd be a bit less… pervy about it."

Oh, wait, is Blake into girls? "You wouldn't say no?" you ask, trying not to lead her. "Like… because she's cute?"

"Mr. Redfield, Yang is an irritatingly attractive woman, and I KNOW you agree." Blake snickers. "Unless you think I didn't see you enjoying the view when she was bending over picking out clothes for you."

"I wasn't!" You look at Blake's, "There's no fooling me," face and say, "Ok, maybe I was."

Blake snickers. "Don't worry, I won't tell. Only because the reason I noticed you looking is that I was jealous of your view. Lucky you, getting her to like you so early."

"Wait, she likes me?"

"Likes you, yes. Like-likes you, uncertain. She did tell me about when you invited her and Ruby over to her room." Blake narrows her eyes and grins. "Pretty bold of you to invite two girls to your room after one day. *I* wasn't afforded such an exclusive invitation."

"Only because they…" You pause, remembering why Yang and Ruby were in your room during initiation. Blake's eyes narrow further when you finish, "…because they needed to change clothes."

"And here I thought you were shy."

"Come in!" you hear from behind a door. Thankfully, you and Blake reached Ozpin's office just as the conversation was leading towards your interest in Blake. Thanking your accidental father figure, you push open the door and walk in to see… crap, Glynda's there, too. There's also something oddly threatening about Ozpin's office, being made of pretty much just glass and massive gears.

"Ms. Belladonna, Mr. Redfield," Ozpin says, inviting you into his room to sit. "Please, come."

You and Blake move across the oddly large room to some chairs before Ozpin's desk. Ozpin, as ever, is cheerful-looking and sagely, but Glynda looks sterner and angrier than usual. You feel her eyes watch you as you take a seat. Ticking noises aggress your ears, grinding her scowl into you.

"I trust you know why you're here?"

Blake answers before you can. "I believe so, but please tell us anyway. I'd like to know your version of the story."

Ozpin smiles and sips his cocoa. Glynda manages to scowl more. "Young lady, I don't believe that's the–"

"Pr. Goodwitch," Ozpin states, firmly but monotone. "She raises a valid concern. Ms. Belladonna, I received a call from the outlet mall's security regarding you two. They reported an incident involving two young men, as well as you two. Said call also involved me being chastised by a woman who, judging by her tone, was rather upset with how the event was handled. I believe she was the mother of one of the boys."

Glynda rubs her temple. "'Did you two attack some young men earlier today?' is what he is asking."

"What I was told by the security force is that there was an altercation between the four of you. The woman claims that you attacked her son and his friend, though the security officer didn't agree or disagree. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to hear your side of the story now."

Blake looks at you and urges you forth. Looking at Ozpin (and trying to ignore Glynda), you explain, "We were at the mall waiting for some things to be done. We saw a lost Faunus girl, and then those two boys began bullying her. I stepped in, and Blake helped."

"'Stepped in,' meaning?"

"…Stepped in meaning I tackled him to the ground and began punching him."

"You what!?" Glynda shouts. You wince, partially from shame and partially because she's loud."

"He did so because the man was threatening the little girl."

"While I don't agree with that sort of behavior, there was no need to to get physically violent with him! If he wasn't attempting to harm her–"

"He was, Ms. Goodwitch," Blake says, far more confident than you. "For one, he was threatening to put her in a kennel, and then he tried grabbing her arm. That's when Briar stopped him. He had asked him to step away and warned him. I won't lie, I was about to do something similar if he hadn't."

Glynda sort of steams, her fury directing inwards because Blake told her she was wrong. She huffs, but can't exactly do anything.

"You can ask any of my team and they'll say the same. Briar only took action when he saw an adult attempt to violently grab a lost child."

"And you, Ms. Belladonna? Where do you fit in with this?"

"The other man attempted to attack Briar to get him off of his friend. I tripped him when he grabbed at his arm, but accidentally kicked him when he tried to stand." You do a double-take. Up until that point, everything had been true, but Blake didn't even blink at the thought of lying to her headmaster about that last bit; she 100% intentionally kicked the other boy in the face and just said she didn't. "The security officer appeared right after that."

Glynda continues to fume. You imagine she's so used to being right all the time that she didn't appreciate Blake saying that you were in fact highly justified. Ozpin, however, sips his cocoa and contemplates.

"Mr. Redfield. While I don't necessarily approve of how you handled the situation, I believe that you did the right thing. Ms. Belladonna, from what you said, you'd have done the same, which I also can't approve of. However, I am proud that you two are determined enough to protect those who need protection; that's one thing at Beacon we can't simply teach, though it is integral to our roles as Huntsman."

"You aren't going to let them off with a warning, are you?" Glynda scowls. "Whether or not they believe themselves justified, we can't simply let this sort of behavior slide. It's a bad reflection on our school!"

Ozpin raises a hand. "Don't worry, Glynda. I have a suitable punishment in mind. Now, unless you have anything to add, I can instruct these two on what they'll be doing. Dismissed."

"Understood." Glynda looks at you, unsure of what emotion to feel. You can't tell for sure, but you think that she does feel a bit of pride in you standing up for someone, but you think her need for order and rules trumps that significantly. "Please keep in mind that you are students of Beacon Academy. You represent our school wherever you go, and that reflects on us. If this had gone a different way, Beacon would be in the news being lambasted for having students that take matters into their own hands like vigilantes."

"Yes, Ms. Goodwitch," you and Blake say in unison.

Glynda lets out a breath and her face softens. Her sternness mostly lost, she begins stepping out of the room. Ozpin waits for the door to close behind her, the fishes for something behind his desk. "Now that Ms, Goodwitch has left us, I'll say that I fully believe you two. As a man, I am willing to overlook the extremes and commend you for your actions and intent. But, as a headmaster, I do have to punish you for them." He places two folders on his desk and slides the over to you. "In the future, if you're going to step in, I recommend not going quite so far, so as not to let it reach me again. Because I'm telling you this, your punishment is as follows; take these folders and deliver them to Pr. Peach's office."

You feel a weird mix of emotions. Ozpin was essentially telling you to do what you think is best, as long as it's subtle. Sure, you didn't need to go quite as far as beating that racist's face in, but Oz' only concern was that it was too public. He didn't seem to care and possibly even thought you were totally right. Either way, you'll be a bit less aggressive next time.

Blake takes the folders and asks, "That's it? Just deliver these?"

"And if Pr. Goodwitch asks, say I made you write a lengthy apology letter to the mother that called and made you serve two hours in my filing office."

"Thank you, sir," Blake says, nodding happily.

"Thank you, sir!" you say, nodding as well.

"You're welcome. Dismissed."


	20. Chapter 20

"That could have gone worse," Blake says, looking back at Ozpin's office. You're sure she's scouting out for Glynda.

"Yeah. I'm sure it was Ozpin looking out for us."

"He did insist on Glynda leaving. She would have spent the entire evening railing us for sure if he hadn't."

"It's a good thing I know Ozpin well enough. If I was just some dude, he probably wouldn't have believed me."

"Same. I've had a few chats with him about stuff before. Judging from the smell, he's taken to the cocoa brand I suggested."

"You can tell which brand of cocoa he–" you look at Blake's bow, watching her ears twitch beneath them. She had years to live with her Faunus senses, so of course she could smell finely enough to tell drinks apart. "Right. You can." It occurs to you that Blake had no real reason why she would have had private chats with Ozpin.

"I honestly can't believe you didn't put it together."

"It's just…" You have no idea how to defend yourself. Blake is clearly sure that any Faunus should be able to tell another Faunus, but you've been one for a few weeks. The ins and outs of having been born part animal elude you. Though… "I must not have been paying attention."

"Not quite sure I believe that~" Blake teases, smirking at you. "You're definitely an odd one."

"Must be the wreck," you say, thinking of some kind of cover. Blake seems the type to notice inconsistencies, so you better try and mislead her. You don't really want to tell her, or anyone for that matter, that you're not from Remnant. "Mind's been foggier than normal since."

"Not quite sure I believe that either. I'll do you a favor and go with your story anyway."

Damn. She's on to you… That plan backfired. How do you go about not being suspicious when Blake already knows something's up!? You could try and fake admit that you're from another word, but she's well-read enough to know the cliches; she may realize that you're too on point in saying the truth. Why did she have to be so smart!?

"Believe whatever you want," you say, hoping to play it cool. Technically, everything HAS been foggy since you woke up, but only because nothing is familiar and bits and pieces are missing. "We all have secrets, I guess."

"Not anymore, though it doesn't really count if I told you." Blake's ears wiggle.

Blushing, you say, 'You're going to say that all the time now, aren't you?"

"Only when we're alone. I've found humans aren't very perceptive about this kind of thing, which is why my team hasn't figured it out."

"Maybe be a bit more careful, then? The reason I figured it out is because you said, 'us Faunus.'"

"Please. Like I'd slip up that badly around someone I don't expect to know." Blake scoffs at the thought. "I'd have to be REALLY emotional to screw up that badly."

"If you say so."

"In the meantime," Blake says, dropping a folder in a slot by Pr. Peach's door. "We seem to have served our sentence."

You look back and realize you've crossed campus. Returning to before you, you stumble out, "So we have."

"Serving time works up my sweet tooth, and for once, I actually want coffee." Blake looks at you and smirks. "Want to raid the mess hall kitchen?"

"Wait, raid as in steal?"

"Essentially. They sell it at lunch, but it's a premium price for a normal cup of coffee."

"So, you want to –"

"Go in, brew my own, and throw in ten of those cheap creamers in one cup."

Well, this is an unexpected side of Blake…. Who would have guessed she'd be in to casually stealing coffee? Sure, it's not as if that's a big crime or anything, but she struck you as the type to follow rules and do things the right way.

"You DO realize that we JUST got out of detention, right? Like, Glynda was ready to skin us."

"And? It makes me feel daring."

Something tells you that Blake isn't about to change her mind about doing this. She was also trapping you, seeing as your choice is to coward out or double down on doing crime. Your bad influence is also incredibly hot, so alone time doesn't hurt.

Hoping you don't regret this, you answer, "Fine. I'm convinced. Crime it is."

"There's the rebel that punched a man in the face for being terrible. Come on."

Blake leads you to the cafeteria, which was still open as people occasionally met there for random meetings. The kitchen area, however, was behind a window with a shutter over it, or the other option of a locked door. Neither seemed a viable option.

"We've met with an impasse," Blake states flatly.

"I imagine you expected this?"

"What kind of cat burglar would I be if I didn't?" Blake held out a hand telling you to stay out. As she began walking out of the cafeteria, she called back, "Don't tell Yang I said that. Or that I'm doing this in the first place; she keeps trying to get me to do petty crimes and I can't have her know I actually do." She disappears out a door.

You stand around like an idiot for a few minutes until you hear a click. Blake exits the kitchen door and says, "You know, this wasn't even locked."

"So that means we were invited in, right?"

"Now you're getting it."

You follow Blake into the kitchen. She makes sure to actually lock the door, then finds the coffee maker and starts brewing her own cup. Grabbing all the extra ingredients, she says, "You know they sell these for 25¢ each, right?" as she pulls out a box of creamers and sits on the counter. "I'm feeling like ten would be good right now. Now, it's not like £2.50 is a lot, but to fix a mediocre cup of coffee? Not all of us have Weiss money."

"I'd drink to that, but I'm broke and can't afford an extra £2.50 to fix a mediocre cup of coffee." You earn a giggle from Blake, prompting you to take a seat by her on the counter.

"Ergo, stealing is morally justified."

"The math checks out."

Blake smiles and kicks off the counter. "You know what? Might as well go all in. If we get caught, it won't matter how much we borrow."

"Borrow."

"Have you seen tuition? Beacon has an entire extra hall of dorms they aren't using because their funding allowed it. They can take the hit."

You don't bother pointing out that you don't actually know how much tuition is, seeing as you don't pay tuition. The less Blake knows about your situation, the better. You watch her disappear into the freezer area and return with two popsicles. She hands you one and begins sucking in her own; your mind wanders.

"So what's it like?" Blake asks, giggling to herself as she watches you unwrap your stolen goods.

"What's what like?"

"Engaging in harmless crime. Not to throw too much guesswork your way, but you don't seem the type to do this sort of thing."

"Neither do you, honestly. Here I thought you were a model student."

"You don't pay enough attention. I spend most of class doodling. I know most of the material, and I know enough to know that Port doesn't have anything worth saying."

"So far, my life of crime is going well. I got to punch a racist with almost no consequence, and now I have a popsicle."

"And coffee," Blake says as the coffee finishes brewing. She finds a large cup, pours some in, then starts adding her creamers.  
"And coffee. And they say crime doesn't pay."

"On that note," Blake takes a creamer, opens it, and pours it into her cup. "I'm going to be extra crimey and put in *eleven,* mostly because I can."

"Careful your hubris doesn't consume you."

"I die happy and full of cream." Blake hands you a cup of coffee. "And here we have about £80 worth of cafeteria food. What's it like living the high life?"

"It's not bad. I could get used to this."

"Don't. As much as I'm for harmless petty theft, I'm not about to suggest that you do this frequently. I felt like I earned it, and I'm high on the, 'avoided real punishment,' train."

You sip your coffee and find it tastes leagues better than anything you'd get at the cafeteria on its own. "A shame. Maybe we do one last big score and get you your own coffee maker. This tastes great!"

"I've always preferred tea, honestly. I wasn't in the mood, plus I don't feel like a tea kettle is very stealthy; imagine trying to sneak around in here and there's just a massive whine when the water boils."

"That sounds not good."

"Not good. Coffee is the prime criminal drink."

"I'll keep that in mind if this whole Huntsman thing falls through."

Blake climbs back up onto the counter and gets comfy. Glancing around and settling on you, she asks, "So what's going on with that, by the way? You still haven't done anything outside of practice."

"I dunno. I FEEL like I'm good enough, right?" Blake nods. "Maybe I just talk to Ozpin about getting assigned onto a temp team? He said I was supposed to… he made it sound like I was supposed to be a mercenary essentially."

"Mercenaries, well known for being not as strong as the people they've been assigned to." Blake smirks. "I'm sure you're ready for a mission, though. More so than Jaune, at least." Cradling her drink, she says, "Maybe I'll talk to Oz and see about you joining us. Chemistry is important to team fighting, and you definitely know more than you know anyone else."

"That would work. It'd be a toss-up between you and JNPR."

"It's us. After all, I don't think you've invited Pyrrha and Nora to your room to change." Blake's smile widens.

You glare. Knowing Blake is teasing you, you give her the satisfaction and say, "Fair. I know how Yang fights too damn well." You nurse a spot on your head–the one Yang favors during sparring practice. "Ruby loves her weapon, and you're good at dual-wielding and hit and run. Weiss… never bothered to practice with me, but she has a rapier."

"Basic information, but correct. You'll fit right into our styles."

"So that's figured out. I'm eager to get some more practical… practice."

"Until then, cheers!" Blake says, holding up her coffee. You clink your cups together and take a drink. Finishing up your stone sweets, you and Blake start putting everything away to hide any proof that anything was taken. She even goes the extra mile and takes her empty creamers with her, "So they don't find a bunch in the trash where they don't belong. Got to cover all bases when engaging in illicit activities."

"You make it sound like you're a professional."

"We all have secrets, I guess."

"I'll believe what I went to believe, then," you say, annoyed and impressed at how well Blake could sharpen your words and use them against you. Of course, Blake did strongly imply she was used to sneaking around, but…

"We should be getting out of here. The thrill is exciting, but I don't want to see Glynda seethe twice today. Come on, we'll be sneaky." Blake leads you to a large open window that led outside. It was pretty dark, so sneaking in and out would be simple. She hops over the wall and into a bush before casually walking into a streetlight. She subtlety motions for you that it's safe, so you follow and jump the window.

You and Blake continue to chat for a bit until you reach her dorm. She waits until you leave before walking back in so to not rouse any suspicion from her teammates. They already know she's likely in trouble, but she didn't want to chance them finding out about your escapade. You return to your own dorm, satisfied and full of coffee and popsicles. 


	21. Chapter 21

"And you truly believe that you're ready?" Ozpin asks, sipping his cocoa.

"As much as I can be. I can survive a fight against Yang, at least."

Ozpin chuckles. "Ms. Xiao Long does seem like a worthy barometer for progress. I suppose there's not too many concrete ways of verifying your abilities aside from a mission. I'll see what missions we have available for first years; speaking frankly, RWBY has proven to be quite adept and could easily move on to more difficult missions, but I suppose they could use a breather every now and then. Ms. Belladonna did ask for you to accompany her, yes?"

"Yes, thank you, sir! I hope I can manage to keep up with them."

"I'm sure you'll prove who you are out there. Even stepping outside the walls is brave, especially for someone with your history, or lack thereof. RWBY will be there to support you, so don't rush in by yourself."

You take a breath. The reality of accepting a mission to fight Grimm was starting to hit. You're about to be assigned as a temp member of Team RWBY to join in on a quick extermination, so the idea of monsters is still fresh. Still, you have a bigass flame sword, magic (but not magic) armor, and a team full of hot girls, each of which could kick all sorts of ass. If worst comes to worst, you can rely on RWBY; that's the benefit of a team, after all.

"Yes, sir!"

"I look forward to hearing from you once you return." Ozpin dismisses you.

You nod and leave Ozpin's office. You feel your heart pounding even though nothing's really happened. It'll be a day or two before Ozpin finds something suitable to your skill level and then mobilize your new team. So you have that time to stress about things! Woo.

Of course, now you become self conscious of everything. Your skills were mediocre (especially compared to RWBY), you have no Semblance, no practical experience, no idea what's truly out there. You don't even have a gun attachment on your sword. Sure, it's a cool, size-changing flame sword, but that's pretty lame compared to most of the other stuff around here. Speaking of…

You start heading to the workshop. Of the things that would help put your mind at ease, ensuring that your sword didn't break halfway through a fight would be towards the top of that list. You've been going hard in training, so best to sharpen your blade and tighten the screws. Retrieving it from your locker (thanks rocket locker), you test it out in the courtyard just to be sure, then head inside.

Oh. Oh, right. Ruby's a weapon freak. It's only natural that she'd be right in front of you, tinkering away with her Crescent Rose. It's also Ruby, so she doesn't even notice you enter the room until she spies you in her blade's reflection.

"Meep!" Ruby squeaks, jumping a few feet in the air. Scrambling to tidy up her work station, she asks, "How long have you been standing there!?"

"Only a sec! I was just gonna do some maintenance."

"Oh. Oh, right. Yeah, of course," Ruby stumbles. "That's always a good thing!"

"Yup. Especially now! I just got out of a meeting with Ozpin."

"You mean?"

"Yeah! I got the go ahead to join you guys for a mission. I'll be backing you up come a few days."

"That's AWESOME! Oh, oh, you need to let me have a look at your weapon first!"

"Ruby, you pretty much designed it. I'm not sure there's much more for you to learn."

"But I got so many more ideas I wanna try! I could try addinganotherDustportorimprovetheburnerormaybetoywiththeventilationsoitcouldgethotter–"

"Ruby, I understood like three of those words, but I think you said you couldn't include them when you first worked on it."

Ruby's babbling stops. Nervously touching her fingers together she whispers, "But I wanna tryyy…"

You look at Crescent Rose. You see several stripped screws bored into the plating, as well as several brand new ones. You can tell just how many times Ruby has torn her weapon apart for what might be a .01% improvement. Seeing just how eager she is, you relent and say, "Okay, fine. She's all yours."

"Yehihihi!" Ruby snatches your sword and finds a new workstation. She finishes up on Crescent Rose for now and begins tinkering away with your blade. "What was her name again?"

You aren't sure where you stand on referring to your sword as a her. "Synstylae," you say, remembering when you dicked around on a wiki searching up cool names for a weapon.

"Ah, right! Of course! Roses, right." Ruby smiles at you with her rosy cheeks. You feel like you lucked out on your bequeathed name; you feel half the reason Ruby is more comfortable with you than other people (at least initially) is because you share rose-themed names. Good thing Ozpin found you in a rose bush and not like, a fern. Ah, yes, it's, me, Fern Bushman. Briar Redfield sounds like a protagonist, not like a loser.

"Now, I don't have all the parts I want, so I don't think I can do a TON, but I should be able to rework some bits and make it much more efficient!" Ruby, without looking at you, starts deep diving into the mechanical parts of your sword. With dexterous speed, her fingers flicked between gears and tubes like she knew every inner working by heart. "Yeah, yeah… Yeah!" She mumbles to herself, hunching over even further.

You watch Ruby work, interesting in learning more about your weapon. Dust was one of things you don't remember at all, and you don't recall working with any sort of mechanical monstrosities like your standard gun-hybrid, but the necessity of them meant you picked them up quicker than most other things. If you get asked anything about basic history, you got nothing, but how to rework a refined Dust engine to slot in with the heating element? You got that. Mostly. Watching Ruby reminds you that she's leagues ahead of you in tinkering in addition to fighting.

Your thought process is interrupted as the door behind you opens. Turning, you see a tiny woman with white hair walk in. Upon seeing Ruby, she stops, looks at the rapier in her hand, frowns, then starts turning around to leave. Before you can notice the hints that she didn't want to hang out with her teammate, you say, "Oh, hey Weiss!"

The white-haired woman flinches. The red-haired woman snaps her neck backwards in a freakish display of speed. You realize your mistake as you watch Weiss recoil backwards, wanting anything to happen other than what was about to happen.

"Weisssss!" Ruby shouts, excitedly speeding over to Weiss' side. The red streak starts clinging to her teammate's arm, inspecting her weapon.

"That is my name. Please get off of me." Weiss glares at you. You do your best to say you're sorry nonverbally.

"Oh, are you here to fix your Myrtenaster? Did the blade bend? I did think it was a bit too thin. Or was the Dust revolver knocked loose?"

Weiss shakes her teammate off of her arm. "I was just going to sharpen the blade, nothing more. I take good care of my weapon."

"That doesn't mean other things can't be improved!" Ruby cheers. "I can take a look at–"

Seeing your chance to ask for forgiveness, you interrupt Ruby, "–Don't you have to worry about my weapon? I imagine you don't want to split your focus on this kinda thing."

Ruby freezes. She nervously looks back at your sword and says, "Yeahhhhh, that's true."

"Plus, I think Weiss can look after her weapon. Mine's still pretty new, so I can adapt."

"Yes, Ruby. Myrtenaster is a very delicate weapon and requires a finer hand than yours to perform maintenance properly."

"Okaaay," Ruby mopes, clearly disappointed. "I'll work on my ideas for this one, then." She goes back to your sword.

"And if that's settled, I will sharpen my blade and be on my way."

"Actually," you say, trying to gauge Weiss' mood. "You mind if I come with you? Just need to have a little talk."

Weiss looks at you with a, "Are you speaking to me?" face, but looks at Ruby. Seeing her salvation in you, she agrees, "Alright, then. If you be prompt about it." She walks past you and starts sharpening her sword on a high tech grindstone machine. Considering it takes her all of three minutes to finish, you assume that she actually wanted to do much more, but she'd rather avoid Ruby. Again walking past you as if you weren't there, she calls back, "Come."

Remembering just how much you don't care for Weiss, you exit the workshop and catch up to her.

"What did you want to say?" Weiss asks, very curt in her tone. Even her walk is direct, to the point, and stern.

"Just that I got the okay from Ozpin to join you on a mission. I'll be tagging along in a few days."

"Ah. Blake did say something like that. Yang mentioned that you didn't have a team, as well."

"Yeah. I've already talked with everyone else, so I thought I might as well say hi to you, too. Teamwork and all that."

"Yes. Teamwork," Weiss says with disdain. You understand that she has a myriad of issues with her team that you don't exactly want to get in the middle of.

This is difficult and awkward. Sure, you haven't had a one on one with Weiss before, but she was actively ignoring you. You'd be on the same team in a few days! She could at least attempt a conversation…

Trying your best to not sound like you're forcing conversation, you ask, "So you fight with a rapier, right? I've seen you use it a few times and it's like I'm watching someone dance; it barely even looks like you're fighting."

Weiss' ice starts to melt. She smirks (though still doesn't look at you) and says, "Yes. I was taught that grace matters in combat in addition to one's social behavior. A lesson Beacon could do to teach. Your manners are passable, but there's not much grace in that sword of yours."

At least complements make Weiss bearable… "Yeah, greatswords don't leave much room for pirouettes. Though, Ruby actually upgraded it to have a shorter form that's more easily wielded; I've been practicing my swings a lot since."

"Practice makes perfect," Weiss states. "I am glad to see you progress; most of my knowledge about your abilities comes from Yang, who tends to add… superlatives."

"You can come practice with us sometime. I'd love to see your fighting style up close, maybe learn something from it. And those symbols you use are incredibly interesting."

"My Glyphs, yes. They are my family's Semblance and they are *quite* versatile." Weiss actually turns to address you like a person. "Maybe some training would be a good idea. If we'll be working together, I should know your skill level. Your true skill is muddled by Yang's… humor, so best to verify it."

Good things! You now know that all it takes to make Weiss address you is to shower her with complements and you also get to spar with her! That's valuable training, and some insight into how you'll pair with her on the mission. The bad, though, is that she's still shallow. Oh, well. Hopefully actually interacting with her will make her more personable.

You have a quick discussion with Weiss where she explains her Glyphs and how she uses the as you walk her back to her room. Once you drop her off, you start a deep think on how you'll fight her and how you'll fight with her. You look forward to your first real mission, the opportunity to truly fit into this world for the first time. 


	22. Chapter 22

"That was… acceptable." Weiss extends a hand and pulls you to your feet.

"That means you kinda suck but she still likes you as a person," Yang calls from the sidelines. "If you were Jaune, she'd have called you a huge disappointment."

"That is NOT what I meant, Yang! I'm saying he's not quite at our level!" Weiss almost lets you go before catching herself. "And Jaune is far below him!"

"Ouch, bro. She must just think you're cute if she's defending you," Yang teases, kicking her legs out.

Weiss succeeds in dropping you, causing you to fall back on the padded mat. You lay there, pride somewhat shattered as Weiss belts out, "Would you stop making assumptions based on nothing!" Blushing, she grabs your hand and pulls you up before Yang could knock her focus away again. "Unlike you, I don't make judgments on combat prowess based on appearance!"

You dust yourself off and wince once you remember everything hurts. In order to prep for your mission with RWBY, you thought it a good idea to see what Weiss' deal was. As you've learned, she's incredibly skilled, incredibly powerful, and incredibly hurty. Though you'll be fine once you're rested up, she… yeah, she kicked your ass. At least Yang had muscles on her…

At least Weiss thinks you're okay. Not great, but okay!

The whole point of joining RWBY on a mission was to get some more experience, so hopefully you'd come back ready to step up a bit. For now, you stretch and say, "It's fine, Weiss. I know I still have a ways to go."

"Do you see, Yang!? He's aware that he needs improvement."

"I do know that. I've been helping him train for like, weeks now. We all have. Like, this is your first time even talking to him, isn't it?"

"No, it is not. You are unbelievable."

Yang forms a heart with her hands and blows a kiss. "You know it."

"Anyyyway," Blake sighs. "We got nothing much else going on until the mission. This is pretty much the last free time we get until we head off."

"You make that sound as if it will last longer than a weekend…"

"Yeah, it's a short trip, but it'll still be a combat mission."

"One that we'll be able to ace!" Ruby cheers, jumping off the bench overlooking the training area. "This is gonna be one of the first times we show off what were made of!"

"And we'll have a guest who can sing songs about how sick we are," Blake says in an extremely dry tone before smirking at you.

"Eh, I don't got the lungs for it. I'll just touch up the essay Glynda will make me write." You earn a giggle from everyone but Weiss. "What I learned on my shadowing mission: RWBY is BIG COOL."

"I like to think of myself as BIG COOL," Yang says, kicking off the bench. She slaps you on the back, sending several shocks of pin through you that you barely play off. "You did good against Weiss! Especially for a guy without a ranged weapon; I doubt many could survive someone with that level Glyph spam."

"I do not spam my Glyphs! Do you know how hard I had to train to be able to sustain so many at once?"

"You've mentioned…"

"Yang, I think you killed him," Ruby says, genuinely concerned as you writhe from Yang's congratulatory slap. "Are you okay?"

You rub your various injuries and brush off Ruby. "I'll be fine. Just sore is all."

"I apologize. I felt the need to go all out, which I guess actually serves to put you in a better light," Weiss says, clearly a bit embarrassed. "You show promise and you adapt well in the middle combat; you just lack experience."

"Which is why I'm going with you guys! No better place than in the fields where I've got you four as backup."

"Before we start the whole singing-our-praises bit this early, what's say we grab some dinner?" Blake asks. "I'd say we earned something a slight step above Old MacDonald's. We can justify by saying we'll be stuck with rations on the mission."

"Sounds good to me!" Yang sings. "Oh, oh, how about that Pepper's place? The one with the cheese fries!"

Weiss wretches, but Blake interrupts her by saying, "They also are known for their salad variety."

"Is that true?" Ruby asks.

"Yes," Blake lies, shaking her head and mouthing no as soon as Weiss isn't looking her way.

"If you say so, I guess I'll try it."

"Good, cuz if we're gonna be a team, you're gonna have to live with normal people high-class food. None of us are gonna go for caviar sandwiches or whatever it is you normally eat." Yang smirks as Weiss glares.

"Cheese fries!" Ruby calls, stopping anyone from arguing. She leads the charge to the transport to downtown, and soon enough you're sitting in a crowded booth in a homely restaurant surrounded by tvs playing sports games and way too many commercials.

For the first time you've actually hung out with ALL of Team RWBY for an extended period of time outside of a movie and outside Weiss abandoning you at a mall, you actually see how they get along. Despite Yang constantly teasing Weiss and Weiss getting annoyed at Ruby's antics and wow Weiss really is the problem child here… Anyway, when they aren't arguing, they manage to read each other perfectly; Blake walks Weiss through ordering a salad under a thousand calories, Yang recommends their best fish dishes (wow Blake being a cat was obvious in hindsight), Ruby points you to her favorites, and you all partake in the glory that is processed dairy melted over fried potatoes. Weiss even gets pressured into eating a particularly greasy fry, which she admits tastes good, but refuses to eat more of on principle.

The night passes slowly as you enjoy the warmth of the full Team RWBY. Eating with them showed you that, while they're not the best of friends yet, they were the definition of team. Even though they didn't get along completely, they were already in sync with what the others thought and felt. Looking at them, you saw a goal; RWBY was the kind of relationship you wanted with a team. Sadly, you don't know if you'll get a team, but at the very least, you'll be part of theirs for a bit.

Your thoughts pass as if watching a film. Even as you stood by their side, being with RWBY was a fever dream. As you exit the restaurant, they decide to mess around town a bit and enjoy their time before the mission. Every word you say passes like a haze as you follow, not lead.

Ruby leads her team around the streets. Without as much as a word, she maneuvers between people, carving a path for the four behind her to follow. Not once does anyone object to her decisions as she effortlessly flows past traffic while never losing that brightness she carries. Crowds, lampposts, cars, nothing slows her pace once and not once do her followers stray from the road she sets. Her lead snakes through streets and alleys, affording you the experience of someone that knows the city; you've lived in Vale longer, yet it felt like Ruby had ingrained the city in her mind. You've walked the streets, but you've never noticed that one street where every building is worn red brick, or that neon stretch of parlors and parties.

Weiss strays the party into various high-class boutiques. What feels like a montage, you see the girls pose in various dresses and jackets, trying on top name jewelry. Though you imagine none save Weiss would ever buy anything, even she laughs as Yang comes out of a changing room wearing a hideous mishmash of fashion and strikes a stuck-up pose, highlighting several clashing necklaces. Ruby causes an uproar when she dons three pars of $100+ sunglasses at once combined with a sideways baseball cap and a mumble-rapper's slickest pose; you would have thought Weiss mortified by the attention but the mood fit perfectly.

Blake's expertise takes everyone to far more quiet holes in the walls. An old antique toy store, a century behind in design, captivates the other girls as they rediscover playthings they knew as children. A discount bookstore carries both old retro games to entertain Yang and Ruby and rare classics that had special prints for Weiss. A specialty candy shop sells foreign sweets not sold anywhere else on the continent if Blake was to be believed. Every store Blake knows somehow entertains all her friends, despite their tastes.

And, of course, Yang finds a party wherever she goes. Every time your group stops at a light, blocks an aisle, or is recognized across the way, she somehow makes a new friend. She introduces Ruby to a guy freaking out over a new run of Dust engines and, for once, her sister's comfortable with the stranger. The blonde plays wing woman as a well-dressed man your age catches Weiss' eye, bringing the lovebirds together. Blake gets an author recommendation courtesy of a mousy bookworm that approaches when Yang notices her eyeing a new release. The blonde sends a guy your way after noticing he was listening to a band she knew you liked. Everywhere the group goes, she makes her impression known while also finagling a conversation for everyone without a second thought.

Everything blurs as you see how well-synced RWBY was. Each girl had their specific brand of specialty that they could integrate the others in. Even though their interests clashed so much, they each knew, without prior communication, how to include the others. Even Weiss, the brat that usually hated spending girl-time with Ruby, seemed to enjoy every second until late into the night.

What you see before you is the ideal. You know they've barely begun their training, but you can already see that Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang were a team, through and through. Your memory shifts to when you watched them in the initiation; even when they had never met each other (save Ruby and Yang), the four worked together to battle their way through the Emerald Forest. In the space of a few hours, they passed through their awkward first impressions and by the end of it, they worked together to launch Ruby up a cliff to decapitate a giant raven Grimm.

Combat was one thing, though. When push comes to shove, you're sure that anyone can come together and fight for survival. Sure, they synced up well in the field, but this was different. On the surface, none of the girls' personalities lined up, but this… watching them run around town, having fun as friends, was watching a team.

One you were going to be a part of.

You feel a strange sense of impostor syndrome, feeling as if you weren't part of the group around you even as each girl gave you their attention. Even as Ruby geeks out with you over a cool weapon, or Weiss suggests a new look you could rock, you feel you don't quite fit. This was your first time seeing RWBY like this. You wonder if they've even seen each other like this; to your knowledge, RWBY had yet to really hang out as a group outside of combat scenarios and dorm life. Still, it felt like they'd been friends their entire lives.

You know that one day soon, you'll be a part of this team–of this friendship, and not merely an observer that hitched a ride. You look forward to the day. 


	23. Chapter 23

Your breath feels heavy. Even as you take in a good amount of oxygen, it seems to cling to your lungs rather than permeate through them.

You're nervous.

Of course you are. This is your first mission, after all. If things go according to plan, this will be the first time you fight a Grimm. You've only sparred up to this point, and while a blonde with her hair on fire charging at you was scary, she didn't intend on killing you. You've left the safety of your room, your school, Beacon, everything you've come to know since waking up in that crater, and replaced it with a bullhead.

The copter's rumbling does little to help your nervous twitching as you soar over a forest.

"A border town has been experiencing an increased number of low-level Grimm attacks. Requesting a team of Huntsman-in-Training to exterminate nearby population. Killing Grimm will assist with the attacks, and increased morale will lower future attacks. Difficulty: 1.5/5."

Everything about the above was simple. In a video game, that'd be a basic quest for newbies. Get in, kill a few monsters, get out. But it's not. Though you've trained and trained, this was life or death.

You take a breath and clear your head. No matter what, you weren't alone. As you look around at the much more collected Team RWBY, your heart rate decreases. The four of them were monsters in their own right. Even Blake, who specialized at hit and run tactics over raw strength, was leagues above you in terms of power and ability. No matter the dangers, you'll be able to make it through this.

And boy, solid ground really helps. As you touch down outside the border town. You feel gravel beneath your feet and suddenly love the process or erosion. It crunched under your boots, reminding you that the world didn't normally shake around fifty feet off the ground. Determined and refocused, you follow Ruby as she leads her team around.

"Good, you're here," said an older man aged further by a life outside the walls. He looks at the five of you, settling on Yang. He looks annoyed when the much shorter, much younger Ruby speaks up.

"Hello! We're Team RWBY! I'm Ruby Rose, Huntress-in-Training Extraordinaire!"

The old man locks eyes with you for a second, but you nod towards Ruby. Now that you think about it, a tiny girl in oversized boots really doesn't scream, "Savior," when compared to other people. "We've been keeping the Grimm at bay, but they keep coming back, and in greater numbers. Thin the heard and try not to die." His head tilts down as he reminds himself of Ruby's 5'0ft of bubbly. "If you can." Yang glares at him, but he doesn't seem to notice.

"We'll report back if we find anything," Blake says, much more Huntsman-like than any affirmation Ruby would give. "What's the best direction to start?"

The old man points towards a thick series of trees that continually grows tighter until you can't see past them. "They mostly come from there. Don't disappoint." He walks off without another word.

"I don't think he likes us," Yang says, scowling.

"All the more reason to shut him up," Blake replies. "Do his job, but ten times better, then make him thank you for it."

"That's what we do!" Ruby shouts. "Only with less spite."

"Altruism isn't a requirement of the job, especially if the guy is being a dick." Yang shrugs. "I'd enjoy the opportunity to watch him be forced to thank us."

"We'll just have to remind him why we're here," Weiss says. "Now, let's head out, shall we?"

"Agreed."

The five of you start heading towards the area where the man told you to go. You breach the trees and start exploring the thickening forest. Things seem light, with no signs of Grimm around. The mission brief did say increased attacks, but it seems that the people around were capable enough to take care of the problem. This was nothing more than clean up, which you guess makes perfect sense for why it's a mission for first years. You all spend a good half hour or so exploring with nothing happening.

After feeling most of tension exit your body from a lack of activity, you hear a "GrrrrRROOW," in the distance. Both you and Blake turn in the direction of the growl, alerted by your Faunus-enhanced hearing. Blake readies her weapon, taking an attack stance; feeling your inexperience, you take a moment to remember to ready yourself in the same way.

"Something's over there?" Yang asks, not questioning why you and Blake heard it first.

"Yes. If I had to guess, just a Beowulf." Blake relaxes her posture and lowers her weapon. "And because of that, I'm gonna sit this one out. Briar, why don't you prove that you're ready to be here?"

Ruby jumps up excitedly. "Oh, yeah! This is your first mission, right? You can show us what you've learned and we can back you up."

"And, as we all know, he'll be at full strength." Yang smirks. "After all, girls will be watching."

Ignoring the social anxiety that comes with having four women judge your combat abilities, you grip your blade tighter. You can hear the Grimm getting closer. Honestly, RWBY giving you the opportunity to solo it was a good idea; this would be a true test to see what you can do with a perfect failsafe. It's also a little celebratory, seeing as it'll be your first kill.

You start moving towards the sound. Eventually, you see it. You see the thing that shouldn't exist. You see the thing that you know didn't exist wherever you're from.

Monsters are real, and you are ready.

You face off against the Beowulf. The gangly limbs crawl towards you, shifting as it neared closer and closer. It had red eyes, sharp fangs, and wicked claws. You have a greatsword and resolve.

You kick off. Your body really moves while your mind goes blank. Before thinking of a consequence, your legs shoot you forward as she you swing your sword. Using your main technique, you wait until your sword's arcing motion was set, then flip a switch. Your Synstylae clangs as the inner section of your blade slides out of the other like a sheath; the blade length doubles, the weight of the motion increased as the momentum carries everything forward–straight through the Beowulf.

Your senses return as you watch the former black beast dissolve into mist.

You did it.

You killed a Beowulf.

You killed a monster.

"Woo!" Yang cheers. "Da da da da daa duh duh da!" she sings, mimicking the level up theme from one of her games. "You're officially one the list of people that can flip off that guy who thinks we can't do our job."

You raise your middle finger towards the town. Screw that guy for writing you guys off just because your leader is a half-sized girl. Yang throws up her own.

Ruby cheers, Yang stands proud, Blake claps, and Weiss… does nothing. Blake speaks up and says, "So, how's it feel? Do you feel like a hero yet?"

"I feel like I killed a low-level Grimm that doesn't give me any bragging rights."

"Progress is progress, dude. There'll be plenty more to go through while we're here."

You hoist up your sword and rest it on your shoulder. "What are we waiting for, then?"

The very unenthusiastic Weiss says, "Nobody. Nothing. We're wasting time here."

"Lighten up, Ice Queen."

"No Yang, she's right." Ruby looks around. "We have a lot of ground to cover. I think it'll be best if we split into two teams and head different ways. Then, we can go ten times faster!"

"The math on that doesn't really check out," you bring up.

"Twelve times faster!" Ruby says, louder than before.

You all (except Weiss) laugh. Ruby then takes Weiss and turns around, heading to another section of the forest. Yang and Blake arm up and take the lead. Your squad starts wandering around, checking for noise. At the end of the day, dealing with the Grimm wouldn't actually amount to much. If there was a source, only then could this area receive proper protection from the monsters. Unfortunately, the only way to potentially find a source was to hunt the small fry, so it was… yeah, this was a low level RPG quest.

"If that's the metaphor you're going for, then yeah, just grind out XP," Yang says, laughing. "And Weiss says video games don't have meaningful lessons. The more you kill, the better you'll be, right?"

"I don't think doing a task repeatedly to improve is localized to games, Yang. That's called…"

"~It's called?"

"Ugh, yes, it's called, 'experience,' but games adapted the term and shortened it to something ugly."

"We can solve this. Yo, Briar, is it working?"

You finish slicing through a Beowulf and catch your breath. Of all the ways you envisioned your first mission going, having Blake and Yang argue about the value of video games while you worked through Beowulves wasn't a consideration. "Level up," you say in the least enthusiastic tone possible while lazily striking a pose. Yang pumps her fist, but Blake enjoys the sarcasm. "I definitely feel a lot more comfortable now that I know I CAN kill these things. Before, it was just… jitters, you know?"

Yang shrugs. "I couldn't tell you, to be honest. It's been years since I got gud." Blake nods her head in agreement. "But hey, if you're feeling like you can do it, then that's great!"

"It really is. There's never any way to know aside from–" Blake stops and looks a direction.

"What, another Beowulf?" Yang asks.

"No," you say, focusing your hearing like Blake. Your Faunus senses hear something far bigger than a Beowulf, or even an Alpha. "Bigger."

Yang cocks her gauntlets. "Alright then. If all else fails, this will help the town more than a few small fry."

"Multiple," Blake adds, better able to discern with her hearing. "There's at least two."

"Bring it!"

You, Blake, and Yang form up and get closer together for defense. Moving as a group, you head to the source of the sound. You happen upon a clearing standing before a small cave mouth. Aside from a series of trees and a few flower bushes, there was only one place the sound could be coming from. From the black depths comes a pair of white masks with red eyes. Two Ursa Majors lurch out of the cave, easily three times bigger than any of the Beowulves you've seen up to this point. You freeze for a moment, but calm down once you remember that you have friends on your side.

"Stay back, Briar. These might be a little tougher than Beowulves." You nod and let Yang and Blake step forward. "I'll take the ugly one," Yang says, cracking her knuckles. She charges forward and begins grappling with one of the bigger of the black bear creatures. "Careful," she calls back to Blake she the plays tug of war with her fists. "These ones aren't messing around."

Blake wordlessly slips forward, peppering the other Ursa as it aimed for Yang. The smaller of bears turns its attention to Blake and begins charging. The cat effortlessly flips over it, leaving behind a copy…cat (seriously?) in her place. The Ursa swipes away shadow and only realizes its mistake when Blake starts peppering it again. She jumps up to the cave entrance and loads in Dust ammo.

Yang, tired of grappling, headbutts her Ursa and tosses it into a tree. She chases after it, throwing several shells into the beast before it can get up and block them. She starts going back and forth, dodging swipes and throwing in her own.

You watch the scene before you, driving it into your mind that you're far from being truly ready. You may have been able to take one of these Ursa were it alone, but Blake and Yang were keeping pace and overpowering them, albeit with effort. You watch Yang parry and punch a giant bear while Blake readied her kusarigama to guillotine the other.

And just as you were watching a well fought victory, things turned. There was a massive earthquake out of nowhere, as if the ground itself came alive. Blake lost her footing on the mouth of the cave and fell hard, bashing against the stone and onto the ground, where she took a blow from her Ursa, sending her flying. The same quake tripped Yang up, leaving her with her own strike from her Ursa.

Not thinking, you rush forward towards Blake as she slams into the ground. You see her quickly stand up as you remember that there's an Ursa between you and her. The bear backhands you into a tree, knocking off a good portion of your Aura. You recover in time to see Blake take advantage of the opening you created and lodge Gambol Shroud into the Ursa's back. She then fires a shot, killing it. Yang finishes her Ursa with a barrage of punches mixed with shotgun blasts.

"Briar!" Blake calls, pulling back Gambol Shroud in front of the cave entrance.

"I'm fine," you yell back, letting your Aura heal you. You stand, weakened but totally fine. "Are you?"

"Just a few scratches. What was that? Some kind of–"

Blake's next words don't reach you. Everything crawls to a standstill as you look past Blake into the cave. Cutting through the darkness was a shape. The pure black managed to be clear through the cave shadows, revealing a great, massive thing rearing back great, massive claws.

The two Ursa Yang and Blake had fought weren't the cause of the increase in Grimm attacks.

This one was.

"BLAKE!"

An absolutely gigantic Ursa Major poured out from the cave entrance. One thing you picked up in Port's classes was that Grimm grow smarter and stronger with age; this Grimm was gigantic, covered in bony spikes, and knew to hide. Now that its den was threatened, it was set to destroy any person near it. That person was Blake, standing right before the cave entrance, unaware that the true danger had yet to be faced.

You feel your body move forward without your input. In slow motion, you see the Grimm arc back, ready to attack Blake with claws as big as Gambol Shroud's blade. Even in your heightened state, you feel in your heart that you can't make it. You can't save Blake. She was stronger than you in every way, but not even she could take a strike like that and walk away with Aura left.

There had to be a way.

There had to.

Everything freezes as the scene before you stretches out. Every synapse focuses on every detail, painting the picture of Blake's impeding attack. There's the cave. There's Blake, unaware. There's the massive Grimm. There's… flowers. Red flowers.

It was a rose bush.

What else could it be?

It was the same type of rose bush that had given you your name in this world. It was who you were. It was your identifier. It was the symbol you chose to be the face of you.

It was your awakening.

When you first woke up, you had new senses. Your Faunus ears allowed you to hear far better. Your Aura tried to heal whatever damaged you sustained in coming to this world. Your soul protected you.

And now, there was another sense. One of life, of protection.

It was a rose bush.

What else could it be?

Thorns erupted from the ground, infused with life energy–your life energy. Like serrated snakes, they twisted upwards from the dirt, wrapping around the Ursa's arm as it tried to break away. The thorns augmented by your Aura sloughed off black flesh, tearing into the beast's arm and stretching it at the perfect angle.

With a great sweeping strike, emboldened by both your extended blade and a gout of flame, you sever the Ursa's arm before it can strike Blake. Your newfound thorns had prevented the limb from moving, making it the perfect target for your heavy blade. The arm hit the ground with a thud and began to dissipate. You stood over it as it did, looking at Blake for confirmation that you did what you did. You had done the impossible and awakened your Semblance to save her.

All of your thoughts go blank as your feet leave the ground. The blow meant for Blake had now met you. Your Aura shatters immediately as you go flying and meet a tree.

The last thing you hear are two voices shouting, "Briar!" 


	24. Chapter 24

"Briar!" Blake calls, her voice catching in her throat.

"Blake! Behind you!" Yang calls, breaking into a sprint towards the cave entrance.

Blake turns around just in time to block an unbalanced strike from a towering Ursa Major, though the force still knocks her off of her feet. It was only because it wasn't used to missing its arm that it was so uncoordinated, so the damage was thankfully not as bad as it could be. Blake flies back but quickly recovers. She glances over at Briar, currently slumped against a tree in bad condition. She swallows her feelings and turns to face the culprit.

It was a routine mission. One for beginnings. A small town had increased Grimm attacks.

It was the reason why.

A massive, ages-old Ursa had made its home in a cave, where it could live and learn and grow. It's power brought out over Grimm as a lure. All of them were weak, but it stood strong in its cave, waiting.

And then Yang, Blake, and a fresh recruit showed up.

The Ursa Major slammed the ground with its remaining arm, creating a small earthquake. The cave behind it shook, several stones knocked loose from the ceiling.

"Careful jumping around Blake! It's what made you fall!" Yang says, throwing a few shells at the Grimm.

Blake didn't say anything. She couldn't. Not with what happened. Sure, she didn't know there was a Grimm strong enough to knock away her footing, but she was careless. She had let herself fall into a vulnerable position, which led Briar to take the hit for her. Twice. There was nothing to do but win and hope.

"Yang, grab its arm and pull it out!" Blake orders, peppering the Ursa. She slid her sheath onto Gambol Shroud, turning it into a cleaver-style blade. She loosed some of her ribbon and began spinning it around in an arc, gaining momentum.

"Bastard!" Yang screams, punching her fists together and igniting her Semblance. Using her gauntlets, she shoots forward and delivers a few stone-shattering punches that the Ursa shrugs off. She adds in an uppercut mixed with a gunshot, opening it up for a moment. Yang slides to the slide, grabs its remaining arm, and wrenches it outwards with all of her strength. Much like Briar had done with his newly awakened Semblance, she positions it in such a way where a powerful attack could sever it.

Blake ran as fast as she could while still keeping momentum in her weapon's spin. At the perfect moment, she ducked, made a clone, and used it to throw herself high into the air. Loosening her ribbon and adding more speed and length, she somersaulted in the air until she formed a massive spinning guillotine. Aiming for the weakest part of the Ursa's arm, she slammed her cleaver guillotine downwards with a gunshot. It sliced clean through the arm, detaching it.

Yang followed up Blake's attack by taking the Ursa's severed arm and jamming its claws into its rib-area. She gored the Grimm before the arm could even dissipate, then used her Semblance-enhanced strength to force the bony limb in as deep as it could go. The Ursa roared in pain before collapsing and fading into acrid smoke.

The second Blake saw the signs the Grimm before her was dying, she ran towards Briar, still unconscious next to a tree. Tossing Gambol Shroud down, she visually inspected his injuries. His Aura was gone, and the real damage was evident. The blonde's head had struck the tree, causing blood to bleed through his beanie. His back had several long, vicious claw marks scoring into his skin. Judging from the bruising, ribs had to be broken.

"Briar!" Blake says, voice cracking. "Briar, are you okay?" She looks back at Yang. Some of the weight lifts when she hears a stir from behind her; Briar's eyes open and move, but quickly fade again. He was alive, but not well off. "Brothers Grimm, this is my fault…"

"I'll phone help! Just do what you can," Yang says, running up and pulling out her scroll. She begins talking with another teammate requesting evac. "Is he okay?"

"He's alive, thank the Brothers." Blake hesitates. She could do something, but that meant…

Oh, screw it! What's a secret matter if you're dead?

Blake removes Briar's beanie to inspect the wound. Yang looks over and pauses her call, taken aback. For the first time, she spies the reason why the other blonde wore a hat at all times; he was a Faunus. He had a pair of cat ears atop his head, and was keeping it secret. Whatever. It's not like she cared. Briar was Briar. He was a person, and this new information changed nothing about how she felt about him. What mattered was that he was hurt, and bad.

Blake braces herself and removes the ribbons on her arms. Gingerly, she wraps them around Briar's head wound, staunching the bleeding and tying down his ears. Reaching into her pack, she pulls out some basic medical supplies and begins administering first aid on the back wounds. Careful not to move him too much, she grabs Gambol Shroud and carefully cuts away his shirt, then uses the clean sections to wrap up his back.

Blake calms down and starts to think. Now that Briar was stable, at least, she thought about when she first met him. Despite having Aura, he spent weeks with a black eye. He wrote it off as his body being too busy healing him from whatever incident happened that he was so dodgy about. That wasn't how Aura worked; Aura would heal wounds until depleted, but for it to target specific places wasn't a thing that happened without intention. Whatever wounds were healing also took weeks, far longer than anything she'd expect Aura to heal. His worked differently for some reason, at least for whatever that incident was.

Blake closes her eyes and focuses. A technique she'd picked up in her years of fighting was too focus a little Aura and apply it to someone else's wound. In all honesty, it was best for after a spar, where the worst damage was only a scratch or two; it didn't do much, mostly a patch-up, but it was something. And maybe, if Briar's Aura somehow knew to focus or whatever it was doing, then maybe it'd do a bit more. Blake channels her Aura into Briar's back and hopes it does something more than nothing.

Having done as much as she can, Blake sits up and turns. She spies Yang come out of the cave where the Ursa had made their home. "There's nothing more in there, thankfully," the blonde says. "That was the only big deal here, so we can get him out of here safely."

Blake lets out a long breath. "I've stopped the bleeding, at least."

"You think he's good to move?" Yang holds up a worn tarp of some description. "This was in the cave. Don't care to know where it came from, but we can wrap him up and I can carry him."

Blake looks at Briar, chokes up a bit, then says, "I… hope he's okay. His Aura is gone, but once it comes back, he'll heal. Right?"

Yang lays out the tarp and forces a smile. "He'll pull through. He'll have some war scars, but he'll make it." She looks at Blake's patch job before moving Briar. She sees the ribbons tied over his head wound and ears. "But I don't think that looks comfortable. Here, I'll help." Kneeling down, Yang removes the bandana above her boot and ties it around Briar's head, covering the wound and hiding his ears far better than the ribbons could. "Now, help me get him on."

"You didn't know."

"That he's a Faunus? No, I didn't. Doesn't matter." Yang grabs Briar and begins gingerly lifting him. Blake assists, lifting his legs. "You did, didn't you?"

"I did. He was going to tell–"

"And he will tell me. Because I didn't see anything and he'll be able to when he's up and about again." Yang wraps up Briar completely and fireman lifts him over her shoulder. "Come on."

Blake hangs her head and begins following Yang she heads towards the evac point. In a few minutes that felt like days, they arrive at the airbus and move Briar onto it as safe as possible. Waiting for them is the crotchety old man that had met them when they touched down and was severely disappointed in a bunch of kids.

The old man looked at Briar's limp body slung over Yang's shoulder and started to speak. "I knew a bunch of brats–"

"–Shut your damn mouth. Right. Now." Yang says, her eyes blood-red, fury burned into her face. Her hair ignites.

The old man cowers, fearful of the burning blonde. His pride ruined, he runs off. Yang and Blake move Briar to the airbus and wait the agonizing minutes until Ruby and Weiss show up. They run in from the woods, out of breath and as rushed as possible. They scramble onto the air bus and Yang begins telling the story of what happened. Though Briar seemed stable, there was no telling the severity of his wounds until they got him to a hospital.

The agony continues as RWBY flies back to Vale, uncertain of Briar's true condition. The mission was a success since Grimm would have no more reason to flock back to that area now that the Ursa was dead, but so what? Briar's first attempt at being a huntsman ended up with him gaining permanent scars at least.

Eventually, the airbus lands outside a hospital and Briar is wheeled into for serious medical attention. RWBY is forced to wait outside for an eternity until they get the news that he's stable. Though they all share a sigh of relief, there's still that sense of dread; "stable," doesn't necessarily mean, "okay." Plus, there was no telling when or even if Briar would wake up, nor if he suffered even worse damage than was visible. The emptiness sets in as RWBY realizes that they can't do anything to help past what they've already done. With leaden legs, they leave the hospital and start to head back to Beacon.

The four girls of RWBY sit. None can really think of anything to say, not that breaking the silence was the right idea. Even Weiss, being who she was, couldn't find a single thing to say, even after barely meeting Briar.

Eventually, the silence becomes deafening. Unable to handle it any more, Blake gets up and walks out of the room, with the only destination she could think of. In a desperate attempt to escape reality, she went to the library, hoping to lose herself in a book. The idea of sleep was far out of the question for her, especially now. Rather than wallow in self-pity, her idea was to bury herself in literature until she couldn't possibly stay awake. The second she was allowed to, she would be by Briar's side, hoping that her own failure wouldn't result in the loss of a friend.

Blake selected a book randomly from a shelf, hoping it would do something to help her current mood. As she found a table and opened it, she jumped right into the first page… about twenty times. No matter how much she tried, she just kept rereading the same sentences over and over again but failing to take in a single word. This was a feeling she had known before: the feeling of loss, of helplessness, of regret. She just wanted it to stop. She just wanted it to be tomorrow. She just wanted her friend to be okay.

Blake closed her book. Since reading was out of the question, she did the only other thing she could think of.

Blake searched around and found a children's fairy tale. She tried her best to lose herself as she looked at the pictures of princes and princesses and dragons and tried not to sob.


	25. Chapter 25

Blake was tired. Physically and mentally, she was completely drained. She couldn't feel anything other than her fatigue, even though she wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and not have to live in this world for the next several hours.

But sleep wouldn't come.

Blake knew the feeling all to well. It was dread. It was anticipation. It was the need for the answer to a question that just wouldn't come. It was that sinking feeling you get in your stomach when something terrible happens and nothing other than time could possibly make it better.

She'd felt it before. Too many times.

In a history that she hadn't told a soul, Blake knew the heavy, sick feeling of anticipation. She had felt it when she left her mother and father. She had felt it when she first questioned of what she was doing was right. She had felt it when she left Adam on that train. Each time was marked by a decision–a heavy, sick decision. What if her parents had caught her when she tried to leave? Would she be constantly monitored and kept in a gilded cage? What if she had decided to run from the White Fang then and there? Would Adam have taken notice to her? What if she hadn't cut the tie on that train? Would she still be by Adam's side?

It hurt. Everything hurt. Blake couldn't see straight, but the anxiety wouldn't let her sleep. All she wanted was to not exist until she knew Briar would be okay. It was her fault that he got hurt. It was her carelessness that let that Ursa hit him. It was her suggestion that out him on that mission.

It was her fault.

Blake was barely able to move her body. She was exhausted. Looking at her scroll, it was four in the morning and she was curled up in a chair in the library. Alone. Like she should be. She was a black cat. A misfortune. A sign of incoming bad luck whenever she crossed your path. If she wasn't around other people, they wouldn't get hurt. If all the books she was surrounded by were the only things that could speak to her, would she be happier?

She was tired. She was tired but couldn't sleep because of the pit in her stomach. Even with a book–a picture book–in front of her, she couldn't take in a word.

"Blake?" a voice calls. It was warm and soft. It was familiar. Even still, Blake jumps. She was supposed to be alone in the library to drown her sorrows in words.

Yang rounds a corner and appears from behind the fiction section. Seeing Blake curled up at the table, she pulls out a chair and sits across from her. Blake replies by shrinking further.

"Blake," Yang says. Blake says nothing and curls in further. "Blake, you have to talk to me."

"No. I don't."

"Well, I'm going to talk to you, then."

"…"

"That wasn't your fault. We had no idea that that Ursa was there. NOBODY knew that that Ursa was there." Yang puts her arms on the table and leans forward. "It sucks, but that happens. Missions go bad. You can't blame yourself for what happened."

"…"

"He's alive. That's what matters. He pulled through and he's okay. He'll make it through."

"…"

"You and I both know he won't blame you for this. This wasn't your fault. He wanted to be there. We needed him there. If he wasn't, there's no guarantee that we would have made it out of there."

"…"

"He unlocked his Semblance. He did it to save you from getting hurt. He's a fighter by nature, that proves it."

"…"

"I know I don't you well enough to say this, but you can't cope like this. Bad things happen and it's our job to make them better. He saved people today. YOU saved people today. WE'LL save people tomorrow."

"…"

"We'll keep moving forward, no matter what."

"…"

"And you can do it together. Because I know you want to."

"I do," Blake says, finally breaking. Her head raises ever so slightly as she opens up her posture. "You can see it?"

"Of course I can. You like him. That's why it hurts so much, isn't it?"

Blake looks away. "That's not it…" Yang raises an eyebrow. "Fine, that's not ALL of it. It's still my fault that this happened. It's my fault he was–"

"–If this wasn't the absolute worst time to do so, I would seriously consider slapping you right now," Yang states, her hair sparking. She shifts her seat closer to Blake. "It's not your fault that the world is like this. If anything, you made him stronger. He fought for you, for me, for people her cares about." She very slowly puts a hand on Blake's shoulder, ensuring she knows it's purely for intimate contact. "You can say it's your fault all you want, but that's not going to make it true."

"But–"

"–But just promise not to let it happen again. Just promise that you'll get stronger. That you'll get stronger with him by your side. We all will, so we can save everyone. So other people don't have to feel like this."

"Y-Yang…"

"He likes you back, you know. That was obvious from day one."

"That's not what–"

"–Just shut up and let me hug you. Because you look like you really need a hug right now."

Blake wipes her eyes and shifts her seat closer to Yang. The blonde wraps her arms around her and gives a gentle squeeze. Blake puts her face in Yang's shoulder and stays there. The blonde's warmth was a comforting campfire after a long, tired journey. Her body suddenly had feeling and energy back in it after so many hours feeling exhaustion. She wanted to be upset but she couldn't. For all her running away and fear of connecting with people, this proved it. She needed people. She need physical contact in her life. She needed to be close to other people and be vulnerable.

Blake sits motionless, resting her head on Yang's shoulder. All of her senses were filled with the scent, color, feeling, everything of her massive amounts of blonde hair. Blake was shoved directly into the sunlit threads, and it felt nice. Yang took great care of her hair, so it was soft and smelled like lilacs. Blake suddenly knew why Ruby was the way she was if Yang basically raised her. Yang was a mother, and knew how to show affection and accept another's feelings.

Blake's comfort came to a head as Yang began brushing her hair. She carefully threaded her fingers through Blake's long black hair, deliberately taking ages. In any other situation, Blake would be embarrassed and upset, but this was fulfilling far too much neglected physical contact for her to say no.

After several long minutes of silence, Blake said, "Yang, thank you." The blonde let her raise back up and sit in her own chair. "I feel… a lot better now." She leaned back and closed her eyes. "But… I don't want to sleep anymore. Tomorrow I'll just be dead all day and you're going to have to accept that."

"I'm sure we all will," Yang replied, scoffing. "It's too damn late and I sure as heck ain't going to work on any papers tomorrow."

"When I wake up, can we go get tea? I… I really want some tea."

"I'm also prescribing you like, six of those cupcakes they sell. You can't say no."

Blake felt her lips turn up for the first time in what felt like years. "Then I won't. I'll stuff my face with comfort food and smile."

"Wouldn't want your little crush to see you all mopey, now would you?" Yang teases. "The best thing a girl can wear is a smile. Sometimes, that's ALL she should wear!"

"Oh, Brothers Grimm, you are impossible."

"Can't help it," Yang says, smiling. If she was being honest with herself, she was torn up about Briar as well, but moping around wouldn't help anyone. She wanted to be sad, but for now, Blake needed her to shine like the sun and warm her. She needed to lighten the mood, otherwise Blake would stay in her depressed state until Briar woke up.

"You're not going to let me forget I have a crush on Briar, are you?" Blake's face grew steadily redder as she looked away.

"What kind of wing woman would I be otherwise?" Yang throws a hand over Blake's shoulder and feels a surge of joy in her heart when she doesn't try to avoid physical contact. "He likes you, you like him! No use beating around the bush." She was elated that Blake had moved on from mopey to embarrassed.

"He really does?"

"Of course! He's been infatuated with you since he first saw you."

Blake covers her face with her hands. "Man, it's that obvious, isn't it?"

"I caught him checking you out when we went shopping. You know, after I saw you checking him out when I tore up his shirt." Yang clashes her fists together and grins. "Wing woman! You're welcome for that view."

"He's cute and beat up a guy assaulting a little Faunus girl without hesitation. Of course I like him."

"Those ARE two very desirable traits in a man. As for your desirable traits, you're gorgeous, know how to dress, and look hella sexy when you do that one look you do."

"Do I now?" Blake says, raising an eyebrow with an, "Are you serious?" face.

"Yeah, that one. Woof. He'd be all over you right now."

"Oh, my gods."

"I'm not wrong."

"Yang, you're impossible."

"So you've said." Yang smiles, glad her plan worked. "I'm just saying he might recover faster if you wear something low cut and shake around a little when you go to see him."

"If it worked like that, you'd be the best nurse in the world," Blake laughs. "Ten CCs of Yang's cleavage ought to fix you right up."

"Oh, now I wanna buy a sexy nurse outfit~" Yang holds out her hands and makes a frame with her fingers. "Imagine it: me and you walking up all sexy, saying, 'tell me where it hurts and I'll kiss it all better~' Betchu he'd be right out of bed."

"Or the heart rate monitor would go crazy and we'd be interrupted by REAL nurses."

"We could always go the harem route."

"Save that for a different story, Yang." Blake sits back in her chair and feels suddenly as though she'd gotten some sleep. Yang's brightness had done wonders for her state. "Thank you, Yang. I… really needed you here."

"It's what I'm here for! I wasn't about to let you mope around forever!"

"That said, my social clock needs a hard reset. Now that I'm… able to actually function, I think I would actually like to try reading a book now that I know tomorrow will be a wash."

"Fine with me. There's a whole manga section I've been meaning to look at! I'll be at another table in case you need me so I don't bug you too much."

"I'd like that." Blake gives Yang a tired, but genuinely happy smile. "Thank you."

"Goodnight, Blake! Sorta."

"Goodnight, Yang."

"Just text if you need something."

"I'll be sure, too."

"…"

"Now, were you serious about those nurse outfits, or…?"


	26. Chapter 26

"He's been in and out of consciousness, but he's on the upswing, I promise you. All he needs is rest and some more monitoring, but he'll be just fine."

"T-thank you."

"I want you to know I've seen a lot of Huntsman pass through here in my time, miss. I've never seen one your age have injuries like this. He's a true fighter."

"I know."

"What you do is a blessing for us regular folk, but your work is dangerous. He'll survive, but those scars will remain."

"I… I know."

"Better to live and learn than the alternative. The older Huntsman I've seen thought they'd seen it all and got careless. He won't. You won't either."

"Thank you."

"Now, just press the button if you need me for something. Otherwise, I'll leave you two alone."

Blake watched the nurse leave the room. She looked back to see her mistake lying in a hospital bed. Briar, the one she had failed, was strapped to several machines monitoring his vitals. The thing that kept her calm was that they were stable. Briar was okay. Her mistake didn't cost him his life.

She couldn't have known.

She couldn't have predicted what was in that cave.

She had no way to prevent getting tripped up.

She couldn't blame herself for getting her friend hurt.

But it was her fault.

Blake stared at Briar and his unconscious face. Were it not for the several objects taking his pulse, he'd look like he was sleeping. She wished he was. She wished she could. It was late in the day, seeing as last night's inability to sleep made her pass out for most of the morning. Yang had roused her just enough to make it to her bed before she collapsed, so she had technically earned some rest. Now, though, by Briar's side, she finally felt some form of actual calm. Yang had disguised it last night, but seeing him alive and breathing lifted at least one of the many weights off of her.

Blake wished she could do something. As calming as the feeling sitting beside an okay Briar was, she was incapable of doing anything but sit there and wait. It was selfish, but she wanted him to wake up. If not to be alive, then to be someone to talk to. She wanted to hear his voice. Really, she didn't want it to be so quiet.

The rest of RWBY had decided to give Blake some private time to see Briar by herself. She was thankful for that. She needed that time. But now, she could do nothing but sit and wait and pine.

Blake was in love. Of course she was. Briar was a Faunus. He understood her better than anyone else. He understood why she hid her ears because he hid his. Their struggle was unique. He was willing to stand up to a group of racists assaulting a little girl and not care about the consequences.

And he had saved her.

Blake was already interested in Briar. She had been. He was cute and funny and kind, even ignoring the Faunus aspect. And then, he protected her. Blake knew it was stupid of her to fall for him completely just because of that. That was what Huntsman did. They fought Grimm and saved people. Even if Briar saved her specifically, he would have done it for anyone else. Pushed that far, she knew he would have awoken his Semblance and saved whatever person had fallen from the top of that cave.

But he saved her.

And, as much as she hated it, she wanted to believe in fairy tales.

She wanted to believe in fairy tales so, so much.

She'd run away from one already. What she thought was one, at least.

She had thought Adam was a hero in the making. An icon that would become a legend, a story to be passed down like the Grimm Reaper or the Maidens. Instead, he was the wolf who came for the boy. The cursed rose. The beast.

Blake didn't want to be in love. Not again. Not when she had only just ran away from her story.

But she sat in a hospital room, getting swept up in another damn series of pages. Her only comfort was that judging from the fact that Briar was alive, this story would have a happier ending. He'd wake up, they'd fall in love, and the book would close.

But that wasn't how life worked. Blake wanted Briar to wake up. She didn't want the story to end, she wanted to continue writing the pages with his hand beside her. Even if she was just being a stupid little girl in love with a boy that saved her, she wanted the story to start already. If it ended in heartbreak, that'd be fine. Blake was still young and she'd find love again if she and Briar weren't meant to be, but this wasn't that story. That chapter would come later, if at all.

Blake put her hand on Briar's hand as it lay motionless beside him. Suddenly, everything in her body calmed down as she felt the warmth in his hand. Seeing him before her like this wasn't enough, but feeling the pulse in his veins let her know that Briar was alive. Her heart opened, the lock weighing it down suddenly falling off. She hated being in love after one cliche, but this feeling was so… so… beautiful. Blake felt longing. She knew that were he awake, Briar would take hold of her hand and squeeze it and tell her that things were going to be okay.

Blake rubbed circled her thumb around Briar's hand. She really hoped he could feel it. That was about all she could do right now. That and sit and pine for someone right in front of her.

Hearing a familiar sound of three different sets of footsteps, Blake jumped. Before she could stop herself, she grabbed Briar's hand and held it up to her face. Touching her cheek to it, she said, "Please wake up soon." Placing his hand back down, Blake welcomed the rest of RWBY as they entered the hospital room. She was very glad her Faunus ears allowed her to hear her team coming, otherwise, she'd had to explain her infatuated behavior. It also occurred to her that they still didn't know. Briar was the only one that knew she was a Faunus. He was the only one at Beacon allowed into her world of secrets.

"So it looks like the strip routine I suggested didn't wake him up?" Yang says, throwing on a wide smile.

Thankful for Yang's sunshine, Blake rolls her eyes. She was glad she had Yang as a partner. Last night/morning proved that she knew how to take care of people in bad places. She could walk in the room and brighten the mood with a bad joke. Now equipped with the ability to smile, Blake says, "Sadly no. I played music and everything."

"Dang. Bet it was hot."

"I wore a lacy bra and everything. Not even a peep."

"Better hope nobody was peeping~"

"is this really the time for dumb jokes yang" Ruby says, lazily hanging her arms.

Weiss frowns and rolls her eyes in a much less enthusiastic manner than Blake. "I swear, Yang, you know just how to ruin a mood."

"I disagree," Blake says, smiling. "My mood has been ruined for too long. I need more dumb jokes in my life right now."

Yang pumps her fist and looks over to Briar's sleeping form. "So what's the actual story?"

"He's stable. The nurse said he just needs some rest and he'll wake up."

"Anything else?"

"Aside from… the scars… he'll be just fine. He won't save any more damsels in distress for a while, but he'll be okay."

"Told you he'd make it through."

"I'm glad he will."

RWBY spent their time watching over Briar, each ensuring for themselves that he was okay. After several minutes of quiet chatter to lighten the mood, Yang said, "I think it's best we leave him be for a while. And Blake, I promised to take you out for some tea."

"I think that sounds great right now." Blake puts her hand on Briar's again and squeezed. "We'll be back. I promise." Hesitating for a moment, she stood up and nodded to her team. RWBY walked out of the hospital and back into the world.

"Weiss, Ruby, you two head home or whatever you want. We'll be back before too long."

"Understood."

"Okay!"

Ruby and Weiss ran off to go catch the next airbus to Beacon. Yang lets Blake slowly walk her towards a nearby tea shop. The trip takes a minute, as neither girl had slept so much as passed out. Together, they ordered something caffeinated and several items of comfort food. The pair sat down in a cozy, warm space that did well to alleviate some of the harshnesses of their conditions.

Blake plucked a mini cupcake off of a tiny plate before her and placed it into her mouth. Another thing she was annoyed by was that, much like the cliche of girls falling for their saviors, sweets immediately made things better. Still, comfort was something she desperately craved, so she quickly wolfed down several more delicious sweets before washing it down with tea. The chocolate-flavored cure-alls further soothed her aching body and mind, compounding with the knowledge that Briar was safe and on the way to recovery. She fell back in a cushy chair and sipped her tea.

"Feeling better?" Yang asks, nursing an iced coffee.

Blake let out a long breath and nodded her head. "Much. Last night was… a lot."

"I told you it'd work out. He'll be fine, and then you can go ahead and bring HIM along next time instead of me."

Blake immediately got annoyed with herself again. Quite possibly one of the most cliche things in the book was a coffee date. She wanted to be a little creative… but she really liked coffee and tea, plus the coziness of this particular place was doing wonders for her mental health. With a sigh, she relented, "That sounds like it would be nice." Blake was done. She liked cliches and she needed to just accept that. By definition, they were the tried and true with the best results.

"*Would* be? Not *will* be?" Yang teases, with a wide smile. "Don't tell me you're gonna chicken out after all this! You spent all night pining over a, 'maybe'? Come on, girl!"

Blake tries to frown, but Yang once again infects her with her shine. "You know what I mean. It's still going to be strange between us for a while. I need to let things play out how they play out."

"Hmm…" Yang sips her coffee and tosses a cupcake in her mouth. "I… don't suppose you would want to bring me along… Or would that make it weirder? I dunno."

"I just… have to see what happens. I feel like a lovestruck schoolgirl–"

"–Which you are, don't forget."

Blake manages to frown. "And I don't want to be. I know I'm better than that."

"Nah. We're all lovestruck trash at some point. Though now you've got me thinking about you in a schoolgirl outfit. A proper one, not our boring Beacon uniforms; I'm talking short skirt, tight shirt, cute little ascot... Add that on to the list underneath sexy nurse."

"Yang, I am NOT going to play dress up for him, even if… even if things go that way. I have some pride, you know."

"But you'd look cute with pigtails!"

"We were having a serious conversation about my feelings. How did we ruin it?"

"Adding on to an idea board of fun stuff to get up to once you're together is not ruining it. You can go get coffee together and then get all dolled up in a cute skirt! He'll love it."

Blake pouts as she eats another cupcake, though her lips quickly curl into a small smile as she lets out a long-held breath.

"That sounds like it will be nice."


	27. Chapter 27

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Noise begins to filter through your ears. It's high pitched, which honestly kind of hurts with your Faunus ears. The sound, though, is familiar. It makes you think of sterile white rooms.

The scent? Not so much. Before you find the strength to open your eyes, a welcoming scent fills your enhanced nostrils. You'd been continually aggressed by strong perfumes and sickening colognes since waking up in that crater, but this was subtle, as if the person wearing it knew not to overpower a Faunus nose. As if they were one.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

It was… well, you've never really been the type to stop and smell the…

Roses. That was the scent of roses. Your namesake. Briar Redfield, the man in the rose bush.

Your eyes flicker open, welcomed by the scent of your own reflection. The first thing you see is a ceiling covered with cheap dotted tiles. A hospital ceiling. The second thing you see is a black shape.

The shape makes a noise. In your stupor, you fail to make it out until she grabs your hand.

"B-Briar…" Blake says, clutching your hand. "You're awake…" She's warm. Comforting.

You look around and quickly gather that you were in a hospital room. Memories start to sift into your mind. There was a cave. An Ursa. A bigger Ursa. Yang. Blake. The feeling of desperation. The strength that desperation brought. You awoke your Semblance. You won.

"Blake…?" peeks out from behind your lips as your senses return to normal. As you blink, the shape of Blake becomes clearer until you see her before you, sitting next to your bed. Her black hair was messy and loose. Her eyes had bags underneath them. Every part of her carried a tiredness.

She was the most beautiful thing you'd ever seen.

"I mean, we're here, too, ya know." You recognize that tone and that style. You turn to see a beaming Yang, Ruby and Weiss beside her. "I'd bonk you for not paying attention to us, but I don't think the nurses would appreciate that."

"Guys…" you say, still piecing some things together. "What happened?"

"You were a hero," Blake says. "We were on your first mission, there was an Ursa Major that was stronger than anything you had the right to face, and…"

"You took the hit for Blake after awakening your Semblance. That allowed us to finish the job." Yang puts a hand on your shoulder. "You did amazing, even if you ended up here."

You suddenly feel a loud ache pierce through your back. You try to look behind you before remembering the slash you received. Judging from the pain, those scars will remain. "I did that?" you say, rubbing your head. Even though you have a vivid memory of everything happening, it all seems like a dream. That said, everything has been a dream since you woke up in that crater. You have cat ears for the Brother's sake.

Wait…

You scratch your head. There were bandages wrapped around it, covering your ears. It kind of sucks, but you sigh a breath of relief. Blake was the only one who knew since she was smart enough to figure it out in her own. It helps that she was doing the same thing. None of the rest of RWBY were in on your secrets. Though, it might be time to tell them…

Nah, Weiss was still Weiss. Yang and Ruby were cool, but she… she was still Weiss. She was there at your side, but for all you know she was only following the rest of her team. She never really had much to say about you besides criticism regarding your wardrobe.

"You saved me," Blake says, putting her hand in yours. "I'm so sorry that this is how things ended up, but–"

"–But she's really thankful and would have done the same for you," Yang interrupts. "Sorry. Didn't feel like listening to you stutter trying to get the words out."

Blake lowers her head. "Yeah, that's about right."

"And now you're back!" Ruby cheers, triumphantly raising a fist.

Weiss puts a hand on Ruby's shoulder and pushes down. "Quiet! This is a hospital!"

Ruby deflates a bit, but recovers her composure after simmering down. Much quieter, she says, "And now you're back! We've all be waiting for you to wake up, sleepyhead."

"The nurses will probably take another look at you, but they said you're in good condition, physically speaking," Blake explains, looking at your body. "Now that you're awake, they don't need to treat you anymore. You should be free to come back to Beacon, even though they might keep you in the nurse wing."

"Yeah! You might even be able to get back in your room by the end of today!"

"We'd much appreciate that," Weiss says. "It's exceedingly difficult to transport four people to a hospital in the middle of downtown."

"Yeah, parking's not great and I get funny looks when I drive around with three other people on the back of Bumblebee." Yang giggles. "Nah. I already pissed off enough doctors when I visited Junior's club. Don't need them getting on my ass about driving safety." Yang pauses. "Ohh, we should go to Junior's club once you're able to run around!"

"One step at a time, Yang."

"Yeah, first I need to get out of bed…"

"How are you feeling, then? Are you good enough to get out of bed?"

You pause. You don't feel anything egregiously wrong with you. You move around, twisting your body, stretching out your arms, everything save getting up and standing. Aside from the minor aches and some physical tiredness as a result of several days not moving, you feel fine.

"Yeah, I'm pretty good. I dunno how hospitals work in this sort of scenario…"

Ruby holds up a button. As she clicks it, she says, "We can just ask, I guess. This doohickey calls a nurse, right?"

The five of you turn to the door. After a minute of waiting, a nurse walks in. "Oh, you're awake!" She pulls out a scroll and marks some things down. "How do you feel?"

"Normal. Nothing really hurts and I can move fine."

"As expected…" the nurse whispers, typing into her scroll. "As a Huntsman in training, your Aura is a well suited to healing the injuries you sustained. No pain, or anything?"

"Just some aches from the scars. Nothing bad."

"I see… Well, if that's the case, then I think we can release you by the end of the day. Just some last minute exams and putting together a treatment plan in case anything pops up." The nurse addresses RWBY. "If you ladies wouldn't mind clearing out of this room."

"Of course, miss," Blake says without argument. She looks at you and says, "We'll be in the lobby. Welcome back." She stands and starts to leave your room. The rest of RWBY shares their temporary goodbyes as the nurse starts preparations.

A while later, you're free to go. Thanks to being a Huntsman, your higher Aura pretty much means that your body can do more than any medicine with your injuries, so you have reason to stick around. You set up a plan wth your nurse if anything happens, and you have some medicine to take with you. Otherwise, just some bedrest and taking it easy. Luckily, medical bills are greatly reduced for Huntsman, considering the line of work, so you also don't put a massive dent in your lackluster savings.

You awkwardly walk into the lobby and search until you find Blake and Yang, as Ruby and Weiss had already left. Yang had driven Blake to the hospital on Bumblebee, plus she didn't want to make Blake wait for you alone. Now that you're free to return home, Yang waves goodbye and takes off. Three couldn't fit on her bike, so you're left with Blake to help make sure you get home safe.

"Are you sure you're okay to walk?" Blake asks, grabbing your arm.

You shift Blake's hands off you. "I can walk by myself. No need for you to support me." You flash a smile, letting her know that you're fine. "Though I can't wait to get back to my room."

"I'm going to walk you back, if nothing else. Can't be too careful."

"Of course. Plus, the last thing I want right now is to be next to a stranger on an airbus."

"Can't be too careful," Blake says with a smile.

You board the airbus and take off. Thankfully, it's a short flight to Beacon, though you still have quite a walk ahead of you thanks to the massive grounds. With Blake next to you, though, you feel pretty good walking, even with the muscle fatigue. You notice she's quiet most of the trip. You can also see her glance over at you several times, carefully watching your step. You know it's because she feels guilty and wants to do everything she can to try and make up for her self-imposed mistake. You want to ease her mind, but you really have no idea what to say. At no point were you ever in a situation close to this.

As such, you allow Blake to lead you back to your room. She'd been holding on to your things after picking you up, so she gives you your keys and lets you welcome yourself home. You walk in, feeling that special sort of comfort one can only feel when in their own home. Though this is still a strange world and a strange dorm in a strange school full of strange people, this room was your home. It was comforting.

You enter your room, somehow feeling like it's been years. Nothing has changed, but waking up in a hospital bed like that… somehow that mission with the Ursa felt like a lifetime ago, even though you've only woken up. To you, it's been only a few hours since you were passed out, but still.

Whatever. You're tired. Things were weird, and a good way to get them back to normal would be to reset things. You take a seat on your bed.

"So… umm… Let me know if you need anything," Blake says, standing before you. She shifts around, looking everywhere but at you. "Just… anything at all. Food, drinks, notes for class…"

"It's fine, Blake. I just need some rest and then I think I'll be fine."

"It's just… I'm still worried about you."

"I know you are. I'm fine, I promise!" You try to laugh to show you're okay, but it sounds pretty damn fake. "I'll be okay."

"But if you need–"

"–Blake."

Blake's stressed expression shifts to a far sadder one.

"Blake…"

Blake steps over to you and falls onto the bed next to you. "You're fine. I know. It's fine."

"It's not your fault, Blake." You suddenly feel very self conscious about yourself. If anything, it was your fault. Even if it wasn't supposed to be a difficult mission, Blake and Yang easily defeated those Ursa. You couldn't even compare. You weren't ready to be a Huntsman, even in training. "I promise you, it's not your fault. I wasn't ready."

Blake looks at you, her eyes shimmering. You can feel the struggle and self loathing. You put a hand on her shoulder.

"We're going to get through this, Blake. You and me, we're going to become Huntsman."

"Together?"

"Together."

Blake takes a long look into your eyes and sniffs. A smile slowly spreads across her face as she touches the hand you put on her shoulder. She looks down at the ground for a brief moment before letting out a breath.

In an instant, Blake's lips were against yours.


	28. Chapter 28

She tasted good.

She smelled good.

Dammit, her _breathing_ sounded good.

Sensations of love and affection filled every one of your senses as Blake's lips met yours. After bringing you back from the hospital, Blake surprised you with a kiss. Longing, worry, and stress had built up in her to a point where simply sitting and watching you lie there in your sleep wasn't enough.

But now you were awake.

But now you were there.

Your room was silent. It was away from every other dorm, so there was no noise from neighbors or anything like that, but this was different. It was silent.

The only thing that you hear with your Faunus ears was Blake. Her breathing. Her rustling of your sheets. Her heart beating in a slow, plodding step.

Since you had woken up, everything had felt fast. It was like the Grimm hit you and then you were awake in your room. You just somehow skipped days at a time with a scar to show for it.

But now, things were slow. Time stopped still. Your kiss with Blake lasted all that time you had lost. And suddenly, it was over.

Your eyes open as Blake slowly leans back, her soft lips still curled into a kiss. She bites her bottom lip as she closes her mouth. Her eyes open and she blinks a few times. The golden gaze stares directly into your eyes. Despite the tiredness Blake's face carried, the stress of the time you weren't in her life, you could only describe her as beautiful. She wore the face of someone in love.

Time resumed.

Blake's face readjusts to the flow of time, causing her to jump. Her soft gaze becomes one of shock and surprise, but she quickly returns to normal. She covers her face and looks at the ground. "Oh, my god, I just did that."

You scoff and try to think of what to do past that. You settle by putting a hand on her knee and saying, "You did. Where do we go from here?"

Blake lowers her hands, stares at the ceiling, takes a breath, and says, "Well, unless I'm somehow completely misunderstanding the signals, I think you feel the same way I do." She falls back onto your bed and stares up at you.

You gleefully let your weary body fall onto the bed, remembering just how exhausted you are. You and Blake stare up at the ceiling. "I think I do." Of course, you do. Look at her. Blake was gorgeous, kind, and the only person that really knew your struggle as a Faunus hiding. She was a fairy tale made flesh, and you could see in her eyes that you were her Prince Charming. For now, at least. You couldn't help but reciprocate those feelings.

"…"

"…"

"So…" Blake says. "Does this mean we're dating?"

"We can be."

"I'd like to be."

"Then we are."

"Good."

"What do you want to do now, then?"

"I want a lot of things, but I think what I need right now is a shower. What you need is sleep. What *I* need is sleep."

"This is accurate."

"I guess we figure it out from there. Maybe go on a date?"

"Yeah, that sounds good."

"Then maybe afterward… you could join me in the shower?"

You bolt upright and stare down at Blake. You can FEEL the "WHAT!?" face you're making. She looks up at you and begins to giggle before bursting out in a full-blown laugh. Once she finishes, Blake sits up and says, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" Wiping away a tear, she adds, "I really needed that laugh…"

You notice that Blake somehow looks like she'd spent a week sleeping restfully. The tiredness and fatigue she carried were completely gone. "I'm glad I didn't disappoint you, then."

"We can go on a date. Past that, we'll have to see."

"At least I know my current goal in life," you say, now forced to think of Blake in the shower. Blake playfully shoves you. "Hey, you're the one that brought it up."

"And now I'm regretting it. Do NOT tell Yang under any circumstance that I said that. She'd never let me hear the end of it."

"We can see how well our first date goes. Then we can figure out just how close we want to be and how fast."

"I think it will go well, but not THAT well." Blake kicks her way off of the bed and begins to walk out of your room. "But stranger things have happened..." She finds her way to the door and opens it. With one last look at the softest smile, she says, "Sweet dreams," and leaves.

You collapse onto your bed and stare up at the ceiling. A lot had just happened. You had woken up from a coma, and you've got a date. Who, judging from her joke, is pretty into you. For now, though, God, you were tired. Blake was right. What you needed right now was sleep. You toss off your shirt and crawl under your blankets, feeling the embrace of sleep take you instantly.

====

You look down at Blake, meeting her eyes as water cascades down your back. She smiles back as she turns around, giving you a cheeky look at her backside. Water runs down it as well, sliding down her curves as she invites you to stare. Despite the coldness of the deluge, your present company has you feeling warm, mostly because of her current state of dress. While Blake never shied away from clothes that showed off her figure, this was completely different. It also helped that Blake was exhibiting said figure for a number of people, many of whom enjoyed the view. She wasn't at all shy about flaunting her body, turning every now and then so everyone could get a good look.

"You totally knew this would happen, right?"

"Of course. I was going to suggest this whole thing after the mission as a reward and some much-needed stress relief. Seems like an even better idea after what happened."

You're glad to see Blake smiling. Yesterday, she'd been a mess of emotions that only gave way to happiness when she confirmed you were completely okay. Today, she and most everyone looking at her were content. Even though no time had passed for you, you knew this was the first time in a while everyone had been this happy.

"So, you think it's time to stop the peep show or…?" Blake says, furling out her hair.

"We'll just be substituting for Yang, you know." You look up and see Yang caught somewhere in between impatience and appreciation. Her eyes had been predictably glued to… well, mostly Blake, but there were plenty of other beachgoers for her to gaze upon.

"And now we can be the viewers. And yes, I know you want to. It's okay because I want to." Blake steps out of the public beach shower and takes a seat on a brick wall. You follow and sit beside her. Yang triumphantly takes your place and begins dousing herself in water, making a damn good show of it for the other beachgoers. Her golden string bikini matched beautifully with her golden hair, much like Blake's black bikini went with her black hair.

Though all of RWBY and JNPR were enjoying the beach view with you, most eyes were on either Blake or Yang; the rest of the girls, while all incredibly attractive, weren't wearing anything near what Blake was rocking, which in turn was about half of what Yang was. Blake wore a stylish black bikini with an alluring amount of straps holding the pieces together. Her hips were practically in full view thanks to the thin crosses of cloth, and the cups were cut up to expose some extra skin covered by X shaped decoration, with one big X covering her substantial cleavage. Yang wore strings and little else; bright yellow hugged her every curve, exposing most of her beautifully pale skin. You and Blake (and every passerby) enjoyed the view of the woman enjoying a pre-beach shower. Not that any of you necessarily needed a wash off before the sand, but Blake wanted to be cute and Yang wanted to be Yang.

Since everyone had been under a… significant amount of stress lately, you all agreed to enjoy a beach day. After you passed out until the next morning, you were told to get ready for a relaxing day on the beach, and soon after you stepped off the airbus at the nearest beach scene with all of your friends. Before you stepped onto the beach proper, Blake suggesting washing off, mostly so she can flirt with you under the water, fulfilling her joke of showering with you.

While you very much enjoyed your new girlfriend's figure as water dropped down it, she saw a bit less of yours. Your Huntsman training had borne fruit, giving you a nicely toned body worthy of your girlfriend fawning over, but you decided it would be best to stay mostly dressed. As such, you wore a swim shirt along with your trunks so she didn't have to be reminded of the scars she blames herself for. That, plus a hat. Blake was still the only one who knew you were a Faunus as far as you knew. You didn't think to ask if anyone else saw your cat ears while you were under.

But… let's ignore all that. It's beach time!

Now that you all took your totally unnecessary showers, you and your friends hit the sand and set up. This had been a long time coming, so everyone relaxes in their own ways, unwinding all that tension built up from classes, tests, and you. The guilt you feel from worrying everybody is alleviated as you watch Ruby, Jaune, and Pyrrha build sandcastles, Nora crush any that dare oppose her in volleyball while Ren unenthusiastically cheers, Weiss lay under a massive umbrella, and Yang and Blake play around in the water. The world turns slowly as the sun beams down, bathing everything in warm light almost like a wash of peace.

Feeling active, you decide to join Blake and Yang in the water. The frozen sea instantly invigorates your body as you gingerly step in, and a massive chill gets sent down your spine as Yang blasts a major splash of water over you. You respond by splashing her as well, leading to an all-out sea war. Blake joins your side, smiling as she sends waves of cold sea at Yang alongside you. You've yet to mention the fact that you were now dating to anyone since that kiss was really only a few hours ago, but already she was willing to fight by your side in the greatest battle you've ever faced! …which is a two on one splash fight against a hot blonde.

Jokes aside, you feel… alive. Pretty much the last thing you remember before waking up in a hospital was adrenaline. Everything moved so weirdly then, almost like a dream. The fading consciousness that immediately followed assisted with that metaphor. But now, the sun on your skin, the water biting your legs, the warmth you feel as you watch Blake smile and laugh away all of the pain she had been bearing… You feel like you're finally back where you belong. You feel like these are the people you want to spend time with. And, showing your new nature, these are the people you are willing to fight for and protect. Those that drive you to become a Huntsman, even after what happened.

Eventually, the sun starts to set on this day of life. You plus RWBY and JNPR pack up all of your things and start to head back to catch an airbus back home.

But before that, Blake joins you under the shower again as you wash off the sand and salt from your body. She gives you a peck on the cheek when no one is looking.

Yeah, she definitely planned this.


End file.
